Dirty Deeds
by Serenanna
Summary: It should have been a sweet deal of a mission, lots of money for very little work. But, after being stuck with the same man for four years, being 'just friends' should have been a dirty phrase. KakashixSakura, GemnaxIno, Lemon eventually.
1. Just Friends

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 1 – Just Friends

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content, as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. This is a Kakashi/Sakura fic told in hopefully not so many parts. Yes, there will be lemon, but there will be plot first. This will be a real plot with a kitchen sink of genres in this, but above all, it will be romantic. Other pairings may occur, but are minor aspects to this story. I'm also cracking a few clichés here while tackling an already over-used plot, plus a few twists. Being this is fanfiction, liberties were taken with the actions of the characters and timelines. Certain parts of the fic are not canonical, I just don't know which ones. Any OC's created are mine alone and are important to the plot of the fic. No, they won't do anything too stupid. If you like them, please don't ask for pairings. It won't happen. All will be explained in the course of the fic. This story is the by-product of an idle mind with idle fingers, and too much romance lately. This is your fair warning to back out now before it's too late.

* * *

Sighing, Sakura closed her green eyes and turned onto her side, almost putting her face into a pile of leaves. It was late autumn and the day was practically perfect for Konohagakure's type of weather; the sky above rolled over with cloud after cloud among the endless stretch of blue. She could smell the changing season on the wind, in the slightly crisp feeling in the air, and it only depressed her further. The body beside her shifted, dumping red and gold leaves on top of her. The kunoichi would have screeched if her mouth hadn't been nearly clogged by the stuff. No, the only sound in the entire training field that day was that of Naruto chuckling to himself. The idiot hadn't even realized what he had done wrong until he got a face full of leaves himself. "Gah! Sorry!" he sputtered, his laughter abruptly coming to a stop. 

"You better be sorry, you lazy ass!"

"I'm lazy?! Look who's talking!"

"I deserve a break, just to be lazy for once . . . At least clouds don't throw leaves and aren't so loud."

"Geez, Sakura-chan, your cloud envy is almost as bad as Shikamaru's. . ."

"I liked it better when you were quiet . . ." she mumbled before sighing again, ignoring his very existence. This was all his idea. Well, the part of him joining her in being lazy was, anyway. Laying out in one of the training fields to watch the clouds was entirely her idea, and she loved it, despite the company.

Soft thumps echoed from the trees in the distance. Sakura tried not to grin. The sound had to be his team of genin attempting to tree-climb without their leader's supervision. Naruto, as much as he loved kids, wasn't that much better of an initial teacher than Kakashi had been to them. But then again, who was she to say who would or wouldn't make a good teacher? She wasn't exactly the mothering type, and Naruto had a softer spot for young wannabe shinobi than she, making the Kyuubi container the better choice for a teacher. Besides, her life was busy enough as it was, when she wasn't being lazy, of course.

Sighing, Sakura started to get up, brushing the grass and dirt from her short, layered, crimson-over-red yukata and black shorts, while sitting on her knees. An indigo obi was tied around her waist with red braided cord, clasped with a red and black swirl brooch of enamel and steel, while the excess fabric was tucked into a short roll. The same shade of deep blue was used in the cotton band that held up her paneled sleeves, baring the long-sleeved armored shirt of steel mesh she wore underneath. Her feet were covered in a pair of tall, black sandals that stopped just under her knees, nearly the same style as the pair she had first worn at sixteen.

Groaning slightly, she plucked a fallen leaf from her long pink hair before searching for others. She'd stopped bothering to cut it, except for her bangs, four years ago, letting it grow so long that it nearly reached her rump. Ok, so perhaps letting her hair grow out again wasn't the smartest idea as it was heavier and took longer to wash and dry, but . . . the simple pleasures in hair care always made her feel like a woman again. A wave had set into her hair as well, no longer poker-straight as it had been in her youth. Maybe it was because she coiled it or braided it while on the job, and still using the forehead protector as a headband, it had made her hair grow all bent. Maybe it was a reflection of how her path in life seemed to have bent too.

The twist she had pinned it in left a small tail hanging down her back, which unfortunately attracted the most grass and leaves. After pulling a few pieces out, Sakura looked down at the black watch on her wrist. "He should be done by now," she muttered to herself, glancing towards the Jounin Building that sat across from the training fields.

"This is Kakashi-sensei we're talking about. He isn't going to be there any time soon. Lay back down."

Of course, Naruto was right. When was the Copy Nin ever on time? She settled back down, falling into the pile of leaves instead of on the grass, as if it were a bed. They stayed like that for a long while until the leaves shifted and she could feel the blonde staring down at her, even if she didn't see him. "You're thinking again . . ."

"It's why I come out here, to think. You're not helping."

The leaves crunched as Naruto flopped down. "You're thinking about men again, aren't you?"

"How do you know?"

"Because whenever Kakashi-sensei is busy and you're lonely in that way, you go talk to Ino. If you can't find Ino, you find me. If you can't find me, you visit bastard. If bastard isn't home or if he's preoccupied with 'clan relations' with his wife, you lay out here, alone, sighing over how miserable your love life is. It's just convenient today that I happened to bring my team to your favorite spot."

"I'm not that routine, Naruto."

"Yes, you are. The only problem is you're almost never alone anymore, or even in the village. Really, the only man you ever spend time with lately is Kakashi-sensei. If I didn't know any better . . ."

"But you do know better."

"Really, Sakura-chan, sometimes you both make me wonder," Naruto said with a small chuckle. "What exactly do you do on all those missions, alone in the dark of the night, with just our ex-sensei and no one to interrupt?"

"Sleep." Sakura rolled over and buried her face in the dry leaves, her words muffled. "You're as bad as Ero-sennin with his ridiculous sexual daydreams and perversions. And you're as bad as everyone else, assuming my relationship with Kakashi is more than what it is."

He snorted, noticing how she had dropped the honorific. Then again, she'd stopped using it in connection with the silver-haired jounin four years ago. "What is it then?"

"For the hundredth time or so, we're–"

"Just friends, got it," Naruto finished for her. "Is there any man in this village you're more than just friends with?"

The kunoichi frowned at the words.

Just friends.

That simple label explained almost every relationship Haruno Sakura had with any and every man in her life. They were all just her friends. Any love left in her life was strictly platonic.

She groaned, and that was enough of an answer to tell him that no, there was still no one to fill that void in the pink-haired jounin's life. He chuckled darkly, ignoring the flying fistful of red and golden leaves that rained down on top of him. She quickly gave up when he didn't stop laughing, sighing once more and settling back down. The heat of the sun and contrasting cool air made her at once drowsy, yet wide awake, caught in a state of near dreaming that ran rampant with her thoughts. Why did warm autumn days make her think like this? Naruto wasn't helping her state of mind either, questioning her on Kakashi. Why did everyone assume so much about him and his relationship with her? Didn't they know she had no love life to speak of, and gave up long ago on actively pursuing one?

There was not much to tell about her love life anyway, since the opinions of others covered just about all the details.

Ino, who was still battling for Shikamaru's attention with Temari, called her love life a tragedy. Tenten, who had been dating Hyuuga Neji for a while now, said her love life was just off to a rocky, slow start. Hinata, who was happily married to Naruto, was eternally grateful to Sakura's lousy love life. Temari, who still showed up around Konoha on the off chance Shikamaru would notice her, said her own love life was at least better than Sakura's. Kurenai, who finally broke down and moved in with Asuma, said she was lucky to have a life, period, after all the village went through to bring back Uchiha Sasuke. Anko, who still slept with anything male, called her love life non-existent, because really, it was. Even Shizune, who was eternally single too, said Sakura was too young to be wasting what little love life she could have on missions, missions, and more missions.

The only woman Sakura knew that held out any hope for her in all matters of the heart was her mentor, Tsunade. Every time the Hokage heard about her pupil being asked out on a date or being sighted alone with a man, she bet money that said man would be the one to finally stick around; to finally tame the feisty kunoichi. Yet, like the Legendary Sucker she was, the blonde always lost those bets. None of Sakura's relationships ever worked out despite how much she tried, not even when it seemed certain that it was meant to be.

Sasuke taught her that when he left and then finally returned. But instead of falling into her arms, he settled down with a woman who possessed the antithesis of her personality, to the surprise of the entire village, with the exception of herself. He wasn't the one for her. Despite how much she may have once thought otherwise, she knew it never would have happened anyway before the engagement was even announced, even if things in the past were different. Once he broke her heart and shattered the illusions she held about love, all of what she believed in was gone. One person in love did not make an everlasting relationship. In the end, she didn't blame him, only herself for thinking the way she did about him; for thinking her love was enough.

But that was gone, too.

She'd already moved on long before he officially came home. They'd been through too much to ever really work, anyway. It was painful at first, those first few days, but once she accepted that Sasuke had indeed gone into Orochimaru's training, the feelings went away like a weight that had been lifted off her shoulders. If she could accept that so easily, maybe it wasn't love she had felt to begin with. But, whatever she had felt was beside the point. They were friends now, once again, and she didn't regret it. There were other things she regretted, though.

Sakura looked over at Naruto, wondering for a moment about what could have been. She could easily see what the Hyuuga woman loved about him. Loud-mouthed, idiotic, but still loveable Naruto had finally grown up like the rest of them into a mature, handsome, yet still loud and sometimes idiotic man. Seeing him lying down beside her brought up so many memories, even if she sometimes wished she didn't remember them. In one night of near insanity, she lost her virginity to him based solely on the fact that he had finally said he loved her. Apparently, her long forgotten beliefs on what love was still made her come to the most idiotic conclusions. She had thought that had been good enough of a reason, but she had been wrong. They both had been wrong. While she didn't regret what they had done, their relationship didn't turn into what either of them had hoped for. They went back to being just close friends and not lovers almost immediately.

Her past relationship with Lee after being with Naruto had turned out similarly, going back to being just friends before she could even blink. Neither of them were the one for her, and it didn't surprise her. After the years both boys must have spent pining over her, no woman could live up to the vision of a dream love. She couldn't blame either of them for the failures, leaving her to only blame herself for how strange it felt when she was with either of them. All she knew was that it certainly wasn't love like she had always thought it would be, and both men had agreed. It didn't even feel like her crush on Sasuke. Maybe if she had tried a little harder, then maybe it wouldn't have felt so . . . different, unpleasantly different. Maybe love just wasn't supposed to happen to her. It was the only conclusion she could come to. If her friends could find love so easily, why couldn't she?

The more she thought about the subject of love, especially on lazy days such as that one, the more the kunoichi became confused. After all the years of trying, Sakura honestly didn't even know what love was supposed to feel like, or at least she thought she didn't know. All she did know was what it didn't feel like. "Naruto?" she asked suddenly, curiosity getting to her.

"Huh?"

"What was it like when you first kissed Hinata-chan?"

She didn't need to see his face to know the heart-warming smile of satisfaction in place there. It was there every time his wife's name was mentioned. "Like holding fire with both hands," he said wistfully. "I never knew my meek little Hinata could kiss like that."

Sakura frowned, knowing that was never a feeling she associated with kissing. "What was it like kissing me?"

"Like kissing my sister, if I had a sister." His answer was met with another handful of raining leaves. "Hey! You did ask!"

The leaves stopped falling on his face. She propped herself up on her elbows to look at him. "Is that why we failed? Why I failed?"

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact on purpose. "Well . . . I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but it just never worked between us. I thought it was what I wanted, what you wanted, but I don't think any of us knew really what we wanted. I'm sure Lee felt the same way . . ."

He did have a point. Kissing Naruto always did feel funny and wrong, but not the good kind of wrong. Kissing Lee didn't feel any better, no matter how hard she tried. It could have felt like kissing her brother, if she had a brother to kiss to tell the difference. Yup, of all her exposure to love and kisses, it only ever tasted like failure on her tongue. Sakura flopped back down in aggravation. "I'm cursed . . ."

"Well . . . you could try dating again?"

"Who?"

"Kiba?"

". . . my twenty-first birthday, remember?"

"Oh, good point. You always fought too much with him anyway. Shino?"

"Too weird."

"Chouji's out too."

"How so?"

"Surprisingly, he's in love with the daughter of the barbeque shack owner. They're dating."

"A match made in heaven."

"What about Shikamaru?"

"Too pursued already; joining that hunt is much too troublesome for my tastes."

"Neji's practically married to Tenten. And Sasuke is–"

"Is married to a nice, simple girl, who richly deserves him. I was at that wedding, remember, and at least one of the births, I think. How many does he have now?"

"Two at least, I think. Three maybe? I know he just stuck another bun in the oven . . . Gaara?"

"The Kazekage? Too scary and too far away."

"Kankurou?"

"Also too far away and a little too weird . . ."

"Sai?"

"Too much of a smart ass."

"Genma?"

"Too over-sexed."

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Too sweet."

"Raidou?"

"Too oblivious to everything, including me."

"Gai?"

"Too ewwww, no!" Sakura shouted, throwing leaves at the blonde who laughed hysterically. "Is that the best you can come up with, Naruto? Gai?"

"Well, there is Kakashi-sensei . . ."

She flopped back down as his voice trailed off. Why did he have to bring up Kakashi again? Normally, Sakura would have been annoyed by his persistence, but she didn't say anything. She was too grateful that he didn't question her silence for once when it came to her thoughts on their silver-haired ex-sensei. Talking would have made him needle her more than silence. Then again, Naruto would have been very disappointed in her opinions if he was looking for scandal.

Kakashi was too unavailable.

At least, she always thought of him as unavailable, even if their history together intertwined now more so than ever, and even if she knew for a fact that he remained a bachelor. Sakura had to admit that out of all her old teammates, she had the closest relationship with the normally aloof man, closer than even her friendship with Naruto, which was hard enough to swallow. Of all her relationships with men that were just friends, she and Kakashi were so close that they were seemingly joined at the hip, and yet. . . not. Looking back on her friendship with the legendary Copy Nin of Konoha, it was a rather odd story how they got to that point.

It started with the end of Konoha's battles, and the dissolution of Team Seven as they knew it, just before her eighteenth birthday. Their problems were gone. Orochimaru and Hidden Sound were destroyed from within by Sasuke, which was a long story. Akatsuki was destroyed piece-by-piece when they pursued Naruto for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Uchiha Itachi was the last surviving member of that criminal organization to be killed, by his own brother in one climactic battle. When it was all over, when they had grown so much in their adventures, staying together as one unit was almost impossible. They were too powerful together. So, it ended. Life moved on, almost leaving her behind again.

Everyone seemed to have something to do at the end of Team Seven except for Sakura. Naruto had Hinata and teaching his genin team. Sasuke had his clan to rebuild. Sai had ANBU as always. For about a month after the team had parted ways, each of them now a jounin, Sakura flipped back and forth over what to do with herself. She could have followed any path she wanted like they had: the academy, the hospital, the call of duty, or the call of family. But, nothing seemed right. The nostalgia of what once was still remained in her heart.

And then Kakashi showed up at her window one night with a mission scroll and a question.

He asked her to be his partner. Not a part of a new team, but a partner; just her and no one else. She honestly had no idea why he asked her of all people until he explained why. She could still remember his exact words: "Because I trust you with my life. Everyone else I've said that to has already died. You're still here after six years. That's more than enough proof to me that you'll be around for a few more, at least."

It was such a simple explanation, but it worked. Sakura was won over in spirit, and from there it was all downhill in her mind. The very next day they'd set out on the mission. That was followed by another mission, then another, and another. She'd stopped counting the number of missions they had been on together when it passed fifty. He had helped her decide her way, that the most important thing for her to do in life was her duty to Konoha by having his back.

And it felt all right being trusted with the safety of the man that used to teach her, albeit very little. Besides, while he still routinely trained her in areas she lacked in, they were beyond student and teacher now. They were equals, and, of course, friends. For the past four years, they'd been just about as close as two friends could be and still remain friends. This, of course, included just about every impossibly embarrassing situation two people could find themselves in.

There were at least five times he'd walked in on her changing clothes, twice in the shower or baths. She'd seen him naked three times, nearly naked thirty plus times, and mask-less for more than five minutes, twice, and quite a few times for less than five. They'd been pressed together in cramped places at least a couple dozen times, including hands in inappropriate places just as many. He'd been forced to kiss her on the lips once as an alibi, but no tongue. They both knew what the other looked like as the opposite gender after learning Naruto's Sexy no jutsu for one mission. They didn't die of shock at the revelation, either. They'd been forced to pose as being married or engaged, twice.

They had started sleeping in the same bed on missions one year into their partnership, when it no longer seemed odd or embarrassing, and when they realized it saved drastically on expenses. He always slept with his back turned to her, and she did the same, the two of them sleeping like brother and sister. He never ended up sprawled all over her by morning, either. Kakashi knew exactly when she'd get her period and how to avoid her hormonal temper. For her part, Sakura never said anything when she noticed his occasional bouts of 'morning wood'.

They had gotten drunk together innumerable times, usually after missions, and often reveled in each other's drunken secrets. They had enough blackmail bombshells on each other to sink ships. There was the time she was forced to pluck a fallen scroll of great importance from a manure pile it had been tossed into. There was also the time he had to let a woman take him home so that they could steal a priceless necklace from her neck which contained stolen diamonds, their real target.

Despite never having been intimate, they also knew each other's not-so-sordid sexual histories. For example, he knew about the time she slept with Kiba after one drunken birthday party, and how the poor boy growled incessantly while having sex and howled like a dog when he came. He has never let her live it down since. She knew that Kakashi didn't sleep around at all, even if he was seemingly notorious because of his Icha Icha obsession. It wasn't his fault what people thought, she realized, after buying a few of the books and reading them herself. Ero-sennin actually wasn't that bad of a writer when it came to romance. He just tended to speed things up too much and was sometimes just plain dirty.

Their personalities had also started to rub off on one another as well. She had succumbed to reading Icha Icha, and Kakashi knew this well, but she never read in public like he did, and she certainly wasn't obsessed with the books. She didn't try to rid him of his beloved books anymore, either. They were also habitually late, usually arriving within moments of each other, whereas the cherry blossom was always punctual before their partnership. Sakura blamed it on the fact that she now set her watch back just to keep up with him without dying of boredom. No one believed her reasoning, of course, except Kakashi. For his part, the Copy Nin wasn't so aloof anymore, at least not while around his female partner. He also seemed a bit more open, even if the mask still kept him about as expressive as stone.

Despite all this, their life together as shinobi had not been fun and easy since the peace came. It was still a job, after all, with all the hazards of a life of borderline crime. He nearly died in her arms, twice. The first time occurred because she panicked and was slow in healing him. He would have died the second time if she did panic, but she didn't, for which they were both grateful. Sakura nearly died once. She lived because Kakashi managed to break through his fear of hospitals to deliver her in time. After each near-death experience, their partnership almost broke. Yet, after all the arguments were over, there was no denying they worked well together.

Perhaps they worked together too well, if idle gossip could be believed. Naruto seemed to believe it, or at least listen to it. She and Kakashi were, after all, just friends, just very good friends. And really, how long could a man and woman just remain friends? It practically went against the natural order of the sexes, didn't it?

Frowning, Sakura turned onto her back and looked up again at the sky once more. She hated the feeling that reared its ugly head whenever her thoughts turned to Kakashi. Every time she tried to label it, the words never came out like she wanted them to. Whenever she tried to discuss it with Ino, the only person she could call a close friend of the female type, Pig always told her she was in love. Oh, right, like she could be in love with the man she worked with. If she asked Naruto, no doubt his answer would be the same: that she was in love with the masked ninja, her own partner. She frowned, reminded once again of the gossip. Why did everyone assume that? Despite spending nearly every waking moment together on missions, and training together, and sometimes hanging out, they were still just friends.

That was it: friends. There was nothing else between them to be had. Sort of.

At the start of their partnership, when the first incidences of embarrassment occurred, they'd set down firm acknowledgements of their feelings in a very open and frank discussion. She'd never forget the first words out of Kakashi's mouth either; the first time he had been direct in answering a personal question since she was a genin. He had said: "Everything I feel for you is out of friendship."

Nothing else needed to be said after that.

It made perfect sense back then, and still did. He never seemed interested in her in that way. He never came on to her in all those embarrassingly close situations. There were plenty of opportunities in the four years they'd been together, but nothing ever happened. Kakashi had seen her at her best, her sexiest, and her crummiest, but he always retained the same droopy, dark-eyed look. The one time he did kiss her, there was nothing but gentlemanly restraint in his lips. Never once was his touch anything inappropriate or uncomfortable. Boundaries, while skirted on occasion, were never pushed. She believed him at his word. Everything he felt for her was out of friendship; no more, and no less.

Soon after that night, she stopped calling him sensei. He stopped calling her Sakura-chan as well, unless he was teasing her, of course.

But still, some new feeling weighed over her, unshakeable and only growing worse in recent months as they passed by. As much as she always said they were just friends, she couldn't get rid of her doubts that she was missing something while being around Kakashi. What was wrong with her? Maybe it was because she couldn't put a name to that new feeling that bothered her. She didn't even know what to think about the man anymore, except that it wasn't love. Her past experiences had taught her enough of that to know.

Besides, how could she love him? He was an old, stubborn smartass with a book fetish and a perpetual tardiness problem. He never answered her questions directly unless it was important. While he did respect her abilities as a ninja and a woman, and honored her opinion when she freely gave it, he'd still argue with her until they were both blue in the face when he knew he was right. Kakashi usually was right anyway, damnit, which annoyed her to no end too.

When things weren't as important, though, he always teased her or purposefully made her angry for his amusement. He knew all too well how to get under her skin with just a few choice words, but he never insulted her either. If any other man spoke to her like he did, they would be force-fed a knuckle sandwich. Yet her temper gave him a free pass every time, only increasing her frustration with him. She never could be angry with Kakashi for long. It was a terrible weakness on her part. And when she did lash out at him, it was always playful. Really hurting him was impossible for her to do, another terrible weakness on her part.

Being around him wasn't entirely unpleasant either. She did laugh at his jokes and idioms when they were funny and not pointed at her. Sakura couldn't deny that they were comfortable around each other, often being lazy together almost unconsciously when there was downtime. It was much like how she was with Naruto, only it seemed to happen at least once a week instead of once a month. Kakashi also left her in peace to catch up on his reading while she daydreamed, whereas the blonde always wanted to talk. At those times, she couldn't complain about the Copy Nin's preference for silence and dirty literature at all.

She also couldn't call Kakashi entirely unattractive either. The first time she ever caught him without his mask was pure luck, walking in on him while he was shaving after a shower. He had simply blinked at her before finishing and putting the mask back on with no comment whatsoever. All of ten seconds had passed, but she had finally seen his face long enough to remember it. Kakashi was handsome after all, like she had always assumed, no matter what Naruto or Sasuke had speculated, but he wasn't drop dead gorgeous either. He was, for lack of better terms, heartwarmingly easy on the eyes and very much masculine in appeal, despite the droopy stare. An idle thought passed through her head that if her partner ever did smile in genuine happiness without the mask on, he could melt any woman into puddles of drool.

Was she just thinking of Kakashi's smile?

The kunoichi groaned, rolling off of the pile of leaves to clunk her forehead on the ground. "It's because he's male, that's it. And the fact that I haven't gotten laid in almost a year. There's no other reason why I should be thinking about Kakashi in that way."

"Oh, now she talks about Kakashi-sensei? 'That way', huh? I knew it, you are in denial!" Naruto laughed heartily, kicking back and forth in the leaves. "Keep telling yourself that you aren't in denial, maybe it'll come true!"

"I am not in denial! You did not hear any of that, or I'll tell Hinata-chan where Jiraiya took you before the wedding," she threatened, hissing at him. His laughter stopped cold, and she knew he was looking darkly at her turned back. "How in the world did–?" he started to ask before grumbling. "All right, fine. Blackmail it is, but now I have to know what you meant, so tell me. You do like Kakashi-sensei, don't you?"

"I do not . . . I was just thinking of what he'd look like if he actually smiled . . ."

"And you liked that mental image?" Naruto asked with a licentious grin Ero-sennin would have been proud of, all but wiggling his eyebrows. "Fish-lips and all?"

"I already told you. He doesn't have fish-lips. Don't be such a child," she said with a pout, kicking at the leaves. "He would be pretty irresistible if he did smile, though . . ."

"I think I smell love in the air, and denial."

Didn't he ever give up? "Fuck off," she said bitterly, curling up on her side.

"Ouch, harsh, Sakura-chan . . . All right, I believe you, maybe you aren't in denial. If you say you don't feel anything for him, then you don't, but . . ." Naruto trailed off, shuffling around in the leaves, "I just wish you'd be happy for once, with someone, anyone. Doesn't even have to be a guy. As long as you're no longer miserable and alone, that's good enough."

"Thank you . . . I think."

"You deserve to be as happy as I am," he said, reaching over the mound of leaves to pull the pink-haired young woman into a hug. She sagged into the warmth, not caring for a moment how they looked together. Naruto never seemed to care. He was her friend, after all. Given how much he hugged all his friends, as well as his wife, it was almost expected to find the over-exuberant ninja sprawled upon some unfortunate victim. He growled contentedly into her shoulder, not letting go. For a moment, she thought they'd both fall asleep right there when a loud, high-pitch screech shattered the calm. "Sensei!"

The Kyuubi container roared, rising up from the leaves to shout across the forested training ground. "I said no fighting, you pipsqueaks!"

"Sensei! Sensei! He fell, he fell!"

The yelling in the distance only seemed to get louder and more frantic. Sakura poked her head up, seeing two tiny figures jumping up and down by the trees. She sighed, lying back down. "I'll be fine. Go be a teacher to your genin. You'll miss them when they're all grown up."

"Kids . . . I can't believe Hinata convinced me to have our own. These three are more than enough of a reason to not reproduce, not counting the bastard's brood, too," Naruto grumbled as he got back to his feet, brushing off the leaves. "Hold on! Sensei's coming! Don't you three dare move!"

Sakura giggled as he stalked off, turning over to embrace the warmth lingering in the leaves. There was little for her to do that day except lay about since she and Kakashi had arrived back in Konoha earlier than anticipated. The mission, which had consisted of relieving a minor lord of a few funds he had illegally collected from their client, went off without a hitch. Her partner had already left to write up their report, turn it in along with the goods, collect their pay, and, knowing him, grab another mission.

She had to hand it to him. Since Team Seven had ended, his work ethic with missions was unsurpassable. The only times they ever took breaks was either when Tsunade personally ordered them on leave or around the winter and summer festivals. Given that it wasn't mid-winter yet, another mission seemed almost inevitable. If she was about to get another mission, she couldn't stay there all day in the field with Naruto or his three troublesome genin, as much as she would have liked to. She had another mission to pack for and a certain man to find, one who would have been more handsome if he smiled more.

Sitting up on her hind legs, Sakura grumbled as the thought of Kakashi and his non-existent smiles entered her mind again. She must have been out there too long; the sun was frying her brain. Yet, there was much appeal in basking in the sunlight, contemplating life, love, and clouds with little else to do. No wonder Shikamaru found it so entertaining when he wasn't trying to escape the two women vying for his attention. She glanced across the field, taking in the sight of Naruto being very un-teacher-like and chasing after the three screaming genin. Obviously, the one that had fallen from the tree didn't get hit too hard. Despite his earlier misgivings, she always did know he'd make a great father. Hinata was fortunate indeed, and she was happy for them both. But part of her still wished she was similarly happy, too.

The romantic in her just couldn't die some horrible death no matter how much she willed it to. Maybe Naruto was right. As long as she was no longer miserable, that was good enough. For all she knew, having love or just a man in her life might not give her what she really wanted. What did she want? Kakashi had given her a purpose in life again, but it still didn't feel complete yet. So what would make it complete? She knew the answer to that question wouldn't be as easy to find.

After pulling a clump of leaves from her tangled hair, Sakura looked at her watch. Now she was in danger of being late. And yet, she couldn't see the Copy Nin in the distance, hanging from his usual perch at the top of the Jounin Building. "He should have been done by now," she muttered to herself, trying not to sound worried.

Really, when was he ever on time for anything?

It didn't mean Kakashi would track her down when he was done, either. It was just like him to never be around when she needed him, and then to show up when she never wanted him. He could have been waylaid, which was also typical. For all she knew, his nose was pressed against some bookstore window drooling over Ero-sennin's latest work. Sighing in aggravation at the image in her head, Sakura stood up and stalked towards the building, intent to track him down.

* * *

The Great Copy Nin stood before the worn desk, waiting patiently for the Hokage to put in an appearance at her own office. Really, if she was going to torture him by making him stand, he could have done it in the hallway. It wasn't like he didn't know the way, either. Shizune didn't have to personally escort him after tracking him down inside the wings of the Jounin Building, but she did anyway. As soon as he'd entered the office, he knew that this was on purpose, probably to make sure he didn't disappear somewhere to read. Then again, he would have already skipped out if he had been left waiting in the hall this long. Icha Icha's call was like a siren's song to his idle mind, the weight of the book almost burning through his back pouch. Couldn't this have waited for later? 

He slumped a little more where he stood, tapping a sandaled foot on the flooring. Maybe this was karma for all the times he had made other people wait. Just as that thought passed through his mind, the office door burst open, Tsunade sweeping past him into the room in a hurry with Shizune right behind her. "Ah, you didn't run this time," the blonde grumbled before sinking into her chair.

"I made sure of it, Tsunade-sama, just like you asked," the petite, dark-haired woman said while placing scroll after scroll on her mistress's desk. "Finding him wasn't easy, either. These are the scrolls you requested, along with his last mission report."

"Thank you. You may leave us," the Hokage said much too lowly to be cordial. The tone of voice between the two women and the pairs of eyes on him did not bode well, making him curious about this meeting. Shizune gave a short bow, then shuffled out of the room, sparing him one glance of pity and a smug grin before departing. Tsunade smiled at him almost too pleasantly, reminding him distinctly of a tiger's predatory look before it ripped an unfortunate victim's throat out.

No, he was definitely in for some sort of punishment now, or rather he and Sakura were.

"How many missions have you been on now with my protégé, Hatake-san?"

That was a good question, one that made him look upwards while skimming over the numbers in his head. "Um, one hundred and thirty-five?" he guessed.

"No, ninety-eight to be exact."

"I think I counted in the ones we didn't get paid for by mistake."

"How charitable of you," Tsunade said with a frown, leaning back in her chair. "When you first requested Haruno Sakura, my student, as your only teammate, I do admit to being a bit skeptical of your reasoning. The girl was good, we both knew that, but then again, all of Team Seven was extraordinarily gifted in their own ways. But why Sakura, I always wondered, when you had your pick of even more exceptional individuals? I suppose I'll never know completely. Ninety-eight recorded missions and four years later, you both are still together with one of the highest success records in the entire village. And you both keep findings ways to impress me."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi sounded a bit shocked at the praise, blinking. This was unlike their dear leader, which meant a noose lay hidden somewhere in her overly generous words. Tsunade's smile stayed in place, making him gulp in nervousness. "Such praise is deserved, to be sure, but . . ."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Are you aware of a superstition in the village that no team has survived intact past their ninety-eighth mission, ever?"

He blinked. "Um, no?"

"Well then, now you know. It's something to think about as I hand you this scroll with your next mission, number ninety-nine."

That invisible noose around his neck constricted a little as he reached out to take the scroll. "Yes, Hokage-sama . . . Is there a reason you're handing this to me personally? It's not S-rank, is it?"

The smile on her face turned into a sly grin. "Only in the pay, I assure you, but it is a highly specialized mission. You were requested personally by our client. She wanted our best, and your name filtered to the top. She wouldn't have anyone else."

The noose strangled his words; he nearly choked on his own voice. "Really?"

"Read it, Kakashi," Tsunade said gruffly, dropping all pleasantries while waving the scroll in his face. "You don't have a choice in this one."

He took it and broke the seal, unfurling the paper on the desk. His eye scanned the inked words, looking for danger, death, entrapment, or something in there that would make the Godaime this mischievously pleased. When Kakashi read the mission objective, he suddenly knew. "We have to . . . I am reading this correctly, right?"

"Yes, Kakashi, your mission is to ruin this man's social life and good name by any means necessary."

"But, this is child's play. A few genin could do this easily. Naruto would love this assignment for his team. You cannot seriously believe this is all we have to do?" He balked upon looking down at the scroll again and finding their assigned fee for the work. "And they're being severely overcharged . . . Am I reading all those zeros correctly behind the six?"

"You mean the six billion yen? That is to split, by the way. The village's take is already deducted, and no, that sum was volunteered for the work, which is why this mission is labeled as S-rank. Pull this off and you both will never have to worry for money again."

Kakashi's hands shook slightly, barely grasping the scroll. This much money was too easy to be had. There had to be some catch waiting for them, either in their client, their target, or in completing the mission. Also, he had been requested personally, which always made him slightly more paranoid than normal. His eye shift sideways, away from the scroll and the blonde. "Is there something I'm missing?"

"This is not a joke, Kakashi. This is yours and Sakura's next mission. Your client is a very wealthy lady who will also be your contact. Her business address is in there. She is to receive first-rate service for the price she is paying. If her pleasure requires thoroughly ruining a man's life, you will make him out to be the scum of the earth before I let you back through Konoha's gates," Tsunade said sternly, making her point by bringing a fist down on her desk hard enough to create a few new cracks. "Am I clear?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"I expect you both to be gone a month. If you're back any sooner, the money is forfeit. You both leave tomorrow, so take the rest of the day off. No one but the lady knows of this, so keep it that way. No one is to know she hired us. And take winter clothing. It's rather cold this time of year on the border between Wave Country and Water."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi tried not to frown, his eye drooping at the continued lecture. An annoyed blonde eyebrow twitched at his attitude, obviously not pleased. "Do not give me that look," she warned. "This one is practically a vacation. Enjoy yourselves. I'm ordering you to."

A cheery smile was forced onto his face under the mask as his eye creased at her. "We'll manage somehow."

"Get out of my office."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," he muttered, quickly rolling up the scroll and bidding a hasty retreat while the getting was good. As soon as his footsteps no longer sounded down the corridor outside her office, the Godaime burst into maniacal cackles. This was perfect! Too perfect! This plan was so brilliant she could cry! Oh, to think how Jiraiya would eat his words and pony up his end of the bet when Sakura finally bagged a man. It made the blonde almost giddy in her devilry. There was no way she could lose this one!

Everyone in the village gossiped about those two no matter how much they denied it. Jiraiya brought it up to Tsunade first as it was, betting that Sakura wouldn't be able to fall in love with Kakashi in a month. She just had to take such a bet, and then this plum of a month-long and safe task just fell into her lap. It was karma, fate and luck smiling on all her past bad gambling judgments. There was no denying it in the blonde's mind that something had to be going on between the pair of partners. If not, their new mission was bound to start something remotely indecent! The superstition part was bit much though, but if it triggered the desired effect in Kakashi's mind, deception was worth it. Nothing like a little paranoia to jumpstart someone's thinking. Before she could bask in the grandeur of her manipulation, though, work still needed to be done. "Shizune! Send them in now!" she yelled out, sure that her assistant was hovering about somewhere.

Waiting for the next set of shinobi to appear through her door, Tsunade leaned forward over her desk, her fingers pressed together while resting under her chin. For once, the Legendary Sucker was banking on winning a bet, especially after the insurance policies she was going to take out to secure her success. They did need a pair of witnesses to testify that her protégé and the Copy Nin were together, after all; two people with invested interests in both parties and not in the betting pool. Sometimes love needed a little nudge in the right direction. And besides, Jiraiya never said anything about not interfering with the pair, after all . . .

* * *

The door to the Jounin Building swung open and swung shut again with such a bang that most of the people in the vicinity jumped at the noise. It was a miracle the sound wasn't followed by the crackle of splitting wood or the tinkling of falling shattered glass given who slammed the door in the first place. Sakura glowered darkly at the people around her that gawked in her direction and started to walk off, muttering to herself. "He wasn't there, he wasn't there . . ." 

"Sakura?"

The kunoichi's feet stopped on the pebbled path, turning towards the male voice. A man in ANBU uniform stood just behind the right of her shoulder. It would have been impressive, as irresistible as most men in that uniform were, if it wasn't for the fact that she recognized the black spiked hair sprouting from the back of his head, and the baby cradled on his back by the familiar dark eyes. The kid drooled in the sling on the man's back while in the midst of cooing at her, and he winced. She couldn't help but grin; father and son. "Sasuke, I didn't think I'd run into you today, or little Takeru-kun?" she smiled, giving the baby a small wave.

He raised the red and white snake mask away from his face until it rested at a tilt on the side of his head. "My wife isn't too feeling well with the new baby only three months along . . ."

"So you're helping her out by watching one of them?"

"It was that or wash diapers and rinse bottles." His dark eyes gave her a significant look, as if he didn't have much choice in the matter. A slight giggle bubbled up in her throat. She couldn't help it, really. The idea of the deadly, scary shinobi that was Uchiha Sasuke as any other hen-pecked husband couldn't have been more amusing if she tried. "She must be very grateful to you then for taking care of the baby for the day," Sakura said, trying to sound sincere.

She couldn't pull it off, though, as he frowned. "Laugh."

The kunoichi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You want to laugh at me for how far I've fallen for the sake of my clan, so laugh," Sasuke said with a seriousness and a glare that could to reduce anyone chuunin or under into turning white as ghosts. She silently met his gaze for all of three seconds, then burst out in silly laughter. He rolled his eyes and fought down a sigh, but as soon as she was done, he smirked again, just like the permanently smart-assed Uchiha genius she remembered. If anyone but the pink-haired kunoichi or their blonde ex-teammate ever laughed at him, kunai were soon to be involved. Even Sai had felt the brunt of his wrath on occasion for his misguided turn of phrase. Yet, somehow, the past had melted away his exterior enough that he could have somewhat normal friendships as opposed to blatant rivalries, at least with his old teammates. "It is funny, I guess . . ." he said, taking the toddler from his back. "When they're not throwing up, filling diapers, or crying, they are kind of . . ."

"Cute?" Sakura offered, highly amused by the image, even if she'd seen it before. "Babies and children are supposed to be cute."

"I remember this lecture after Akiko's birth. They're supposed to be cute to prevent the parents from wanting to get rid of them. I don't need to hear it again."

"I only lectured you because you took one look at your little girl and scrunched up your nose when you got one whiff of baby poo."

"Three children and at least ten thousand diapers per child later can change a man."

Sakura grinned slightly. His assessment must have included himself, even if it went unsaid. "What are you doing here, anyway? Is it bring-your-child-to-work day?" she asked, still grinning.

"Just training. Another mission?"

"Yes, just got back into the village from one. And knowing Kakashi . . ."

"I know," Sasuke said, "And I don't need to know more. You both will be fine out there."

"Thank you . . ." she trailed off, interested more in her sandals than meeting his eyes. "Funny, isn't it?"

"What's funny now?"

"Just the way things happen, I guess. I never pictured being partnered with Kakashi, but I never pictured a lot of things happening, either."

He started to take a step towards her, reaching to grab her by the arm. "Sakura–"

She eluded his grasp, holding her hand up instead. "I'm fine, really. Everything that happened has been my choice, and we both knew that. We're just friends. That's all we ever were to each other, friends."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes . . . and thank you . . ."

"For what?"

"For never giving up on me, no matter what I did to you both," he admitted, shifting the baby on his shoulder. "I never told either of you thank you."

Sakura smiled, peacefully and sincerely. "You're welcome. It's what friends do."

Suddenly, the kunoichi's feet shifted sideways, the need to get back to her search tugging at her gut. "I should be going. I need to find Kakashi . . ."

As soon as the name was past her lips, an amused look lifted his eyebrows. She stopped and scowled at him. Why did people keep having that reaction around here when she mentioned her silver-haired partner? "What?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing, just that you must be eager to see him again so soon."

He teased her. Sasuke was teasing her, a rare occasion even if it did happen once in a blue moon. The Uchiha must have heard the rumors too. "For your information, I am not eager to see him so quickly. I can almost guarantee that when I do find our old sensei, it will be with either his nose in a dirty book or pressed up against some dirty bookstore's dirty window," Sakura groused, her arms folded under her chest as she stamped a foot. "But if I'm going to pack for another mission tonight, I should at least find out what I'm going to need."

At least that was one thing the Copy Nin excelled at in his old age: getting a rise out of her without even trying. Bouncing his son on his shoulder, Sasuke walked towards the Jounin Building like he had been doing before seeing the pink-haired woman abruptly walk out. "Good luck, Sakura-chan. And take it easy on him. He's not as young as he used to be."

"He's not that old! Thirty-six is not old!" she shouted back, even as he raised his hand in goodbye.

"He certainly doesn't act old . . ." Sakura grumbled to herself.

It had to be the hair. Everyone they ever encountered took one look at the Copy Nin's silvery-grey hair and assumed they were father and daughter at best, grandfather and grand-daughter at worst. At least only the village rumor-mongers assumed they were lovers, which they weren't. Why couldn't anyone get it straight? Pondering that very question and scowling to herself, Sakura stalked off again, ignoring all the other looks sent her way as her muttering continued unabated. "He wasn't there . . ."

* * *

Jumping down to street level from the Hokage's tower, a mixture of thoughts went through Kakashi's head, most of which centered on the mission scroll safely tucked away in a vest pocket. They still clouded his head, distracting him from the familiar little book in his hands. He never got paid that much for a single mission, not even at ANBU rates, and never one this easy. It was so easy it was nearly shameful. 

How hard could it be to ruin a man? Women seemed to do it all the time with their exes. A few well-placed rumors about nasty habits, personal hygiene, or performance in bed could reduce any man to being lonely for months on end. It was why Genma had dry spells despite seemingly oozing charm around the opposite sex. Then again, his friend sometimes deserved it for how he treated them. At least all the gossip Kakashi knew about his own reputation centered on two things: his indecent love for Icha Icha Paradise and his relationship with Sakura, his friend and partner.

Sakura . . .

The thought of her made his pace slow down from a determined walk to his usual slouching stroll. That seemed to happen to him a lot lately whenever the subject of the fiery pink-haired kunoichi that he was all too familiar with came across his mind. It was annoying the way his eye and thoughts lingered on her longer than ever before. Beyond annoying. At least she didn't notice his stares and no one else noticed either, or the gossip might have been worse.

Kakashi frowned, staring blankly ahead. Why did he have to finally notice a few months ago that she was really quite lovely?

He had seen it coming when she was as young as sixteen, knowing that one day she'd grow into a real heartbreaker. Sure enough, Sakura filled out and thankfully he was too familiar with her to think of her as anything but a little sister . . . until that sisterly image got blown to hell and back. All it took to undermine his carefully built thoughts was the sight of her in full kimono at the last summer festival. While normally the kunoichi radiated cuteness and innocence in traditional clothing, there was something about her that night which surpassed that notion, skipped mere prettiness, and jumped headlong right into beauty and maturity. Sakura was truly all grown up and beautiful. She must have known that when she suddenly stopped wearing her usual red shirt and tan split skirt over black shorts, right after the festival, in favor of yukatas and obi.

Or perhaps she was just taking after her mentor's fashion sense instead.

Despite Kakashi's lingering thoughts on her appearance, at least he had managed to push it aside every time she was close to him, which was all the time practically. If he was truly attracted to her, it would have been a problem, a big problem. He really didn't need a woman in his life, or that's what he kept telling himself. Ever since Rin passed, tragically faded from his life was more like it, all the contact he ever had with women was an occasional one-night stand, and that was enough for him. That had stopped as soon as he passed Team Seven. Once he came to be around kids all the time, the need for sex fell by the wayside, so the books became enough.

Never again did he want a woman in his life. He didn't need the doting, or adoration, or cooing, or all the sappy things that usually came with relationships. The only thing he ever really wanted was just the comfort of someone beside him who cared if he existed or not. Sakura filled that void nicely, and changing that relationship into something else wasn't going to happen easily. It was almost a blessing that he wasn't attracted to her in any way, shape, or form.

But then again, as he looked up to see a certain pink-haired kunoichi stomping angrily towards him, why did his thoughts fly away like the autumn leaves? He must have looked dumbstruck standing there with an open book in his hands, eyes glued to her flashing green pair and pinched scowl. "You weren't in the Jounin Building, Kakashi," she said with an aggravated frown.

"Well, you see . . ."

"I don't want to hear it. You know that," she said before turning and dropping back to his side as he kept walking through the shaded path. He couldn't help but grin under the mask, knowing her well enough to know that his excuses for his tardiness didn't cut it anymore. Still, he didn't need excuses. He could feel the waves of anger in her calming down the further they got away from the Hokage's Tower until she finally asked, "Did you get it?"

Kakashi slid his book back into its place in his pouch and pulled out a thick envelope, tossing it to her. Sakura caught it easily, counting the bills inside. "Ah, next two months rent. I can breathe easily now."

He smirked. "Like either of us are ever home long enough to appreciate it."

"That's your fault. You never let us take breaks unless we really need it."

"So you'd rather be poor?"

"No, but that's beside the point. The point is winter is coming, and I'm looking forward to a nice long break, especially with Hinata so close to being due."

Kakashi tried not to groan. Uzumaki Naruto was successfully breeding with the Hyuuga clan heiress. Konoha would never be the same. "I take it you want to be there for the birth?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. "Apparently, she won't have anyone else but me to be the midwife . . . We are taking a break after this mission, right?"

"How do you know I picked one up?"

Both of her pink eyebrows shot up, not believing him for a moment. Was he that readable to her? Kakashi didn't answer her look, knowing it was pointless. Instead, he unsnapped one vest pocket, the scroll sliding into his hand. He tossed it at her. Sakura snatched the scroll from the air, looking at it curiously, then fearfully, when she saw the seal. "S-Rank?"

"In pay alone. Just read it."

She stuffed the money envelope into her back pouch and unfurled the scroll. The kunoichi had only read into the first few lines when she gawked, yelping as if she'd just inhaled a few too many balls of dango. "T-t-t-that can't be right! That's–! Holy shit! Wow! That's–!" she screamed, green eyes huge while taking in all the zeros. "It's an error, right?"

"Nope, there's no mistake about it, Sakura-chan, but do keep it down. You're attracting unwanted attention."

"But this is–!" she started to say until reigning her voice in to a harsh whisper. "This could make us the two richest people in Konohagakure! Even the Hokage's salary isn't this much!"

"It is to split."

"I know that! It's still a lot of money!"

"It's just money, and this is just another mission."

"How can you be so blasé about this? It's like super S-rank! ANBU don't even get paid this much!"

"I wouldn't knock it. Given their high mortality rate, ANBU operatives get plenty . . . Just maybe not that much in one lump sum . . . Have you even read the mission objective?"

Sakura blinked at him, then looked down at the scroll once more, her eyebrows shooting up again. "Is this for real?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Our client must be an idiot or desperate."

"Which would you bet on?"

"Desperate. Whoever this guy is must have really pissed our client off if they can put up this much money for a mission just to have us ruin him. What do you think he did?" she asked, rolling up the scroll again.

Kakashi took it from her hands, putting it back in the vest pocket. "Since our client is a lady, I imagine it would be something that would make a woman rather irate."

"I bet he cheated on her or something. All women love to get even with their exes."

"Vindictive much?" he asked, trying to smirk at the evil grin on the kunoichi's face. Sakura laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head as she looked at him. "Me? Vindictive? Don't be silly," she said while holding her head up proudly. "I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing to my exes."

"That's because you're still friends with them. Just friends."

Her green eyes narrowed on her companion as she frowned. "At least I have exes to speak of. The only company you seem to keep is Icha Icha and your hand."

"Ouch . . ." Kakashi winced, shifting uncomfortable on his feet. "I'm not the only one suffering with just Icha Icha and a hand currently."

He side-stepped just in time to miss the punch to his shoulder, grabbing Sakura by the wrist instead. "See, you are vindictive."

The petite woman snorted, twisting her arm instead to free it from his grasp before stalking past him. "I am not . . . I just don't do that sort of thing, you pervert, and you know it. This is all beside the point, anyway. We have a job to do starting tomorrow."

"Wait, I thought I was the one that was supposed to be focused on missions?"

Sakura playfully stuck her tongue out at him, holding her head up high again. Kakashi's eye rolled up; he was beginning to wonder what sort of monster he'd created. And yet, while she was turned away, his glance kept returning to her profile, the way the tail of her long hair blew in the slightly cold wind, the way she seemed so happy and oblivious despite their sometimes hostile occupation. Maybe he had created a monster out of the girl he once knew. Yet, that girl seemed to have grown into a beautiful monster . . . and a smart-mouthed one, too.

"Fine," Kakashi said after a few silent moments, purposefully looking away from her. "We meet tomorrow morning at the gates, winter clothes, and civilian too. The place we're heading into is the biggest city on the coast between Wave and Water, highly industrial and corporate-ruled. Not much nobility out there either, or other shinobi; a real business hub."

"What city is this?"

"Snowfall."

"Odd name for a city . . ."

"Snow falls there all the time, except for a few months in the summer."

"Winter clothes . . . Got it," Sakura muttered to herself before glancing over at Kakashi again. "You sound like you know this place. Were you there before?"

"One ANBU mission, long time ago. I don't want to talk about it."

The pink-haired kunoichi shivered slightly. ANBU missions weren't something to talk about, anyway. "At least this one will be more fun, that's for sure."

"Fun and ninja missions do not mix."

She giggled. "You are no fun whatsoever. Why am I still your partner?"

"My sparkling personality," Kakashi quipped with a false cheery smile and eye crease. Sakura snorted in disdainful laughter. He abruptly turned directions, walking away from her and in the direction of his building. And yet, the ninja stopped no more than a few paces away, turning back towards her. "Given it's our one night of freedom before another mission . . ."

She waved him off, turning to walk in the direction of her own apartment as she already knew what he was going to ask. "All right, I'll be there, but you better be on time this time. The last time you were late I almost punched Genma's lights out for leering at me too long."

"I'll be there to defend your honor, Sakura-chan," he said while smirking under the mask. "But you should consider just punching him next time."

Laughing again, she disappeared in a sudden swirl of cherry blossoms, the pink petals mingling on the ground among the golden leaves. As soon as Sakura was gone, Kakashi's hand slowly fell before being shoved into his pants pockets. It was annoying, really, how his thoughts and eyes lingered on her lately. But at least she didn't notice . . . yet. He secretly hoped she never would notice. If she didn't, then it was still just his problem alone, one he could brush aside. Maybe this mission and a break afterwards was a good idea. He could safely be around Sakura without scrutiny, and then avoid her after the month was up if something went wrong.

Nothing would go wrong, of course. It wasn't like Tsunade's little superstitious tale was even real. It was a nice try by the Hokage, but it would never work on him. If he got shaken up by stories and paranoia so easily, he would have been dead a long time ago. The only disaster this mission posed was to his working relationship with Sakura if things escalated, but that wouldn't be happening either. His self-control was like iron: unbendable . . . unless the kunoichi chose to cover herself in nothing but copies of Icha Icha.

Kakashi turned away abruptly, walking fast towards his apartment while muttering to himself, "Bad thought, very bad thought. Don't think that one again."

* * *

Ino glared at the man across from her at the table, about ready to slam the sake cup in her hands into his face. "Genma, I swear, if you make one more pass at me, I'll possess you and make you hit on Gai instead," she said darkly. "We're supposed to be on a mission. Tsunade-sama did not assign me to be your play toy." 

"Oh come on, like watching after those two is much of a mission," the older man said as he took a sidelong glance at the pair seated at the bar. "I can just feel the sexual tension radiating off of Kakashi and the cherry blossom from here, like two blocks of ice. If they were any colder around each other, I'd get frostbite."

Her pale eyebrows flattened as she stared at him, pressed as much into a thin line as her lips. "You could be a little more considerate for your friend."

"Kakashi may be a drinking buddy of mine, but if he doesn't want a woman, more for me."

"Pig."

"Oink, oink."

The blonde gave a boar-like snort before turning towards the couple at the bar, her friend and her friend's ex-sensei. Out of all the people in the village that knew the pair, why did the Hokage have to choose them to be reconnaissance and assistance? Working with Genma and being female was almost like ringing a dinner bell to him, like he had every right to flirt and tease shamelessly. It didn't help that their assignment, to help the two get 'closer' together by any covert means necessary for the sake of Tsunade's bet, required some small personal knowledge and discussion on the subject of love, as well as insider information on their targets. How hard could it be to make two stubborn people already so close fall in love?

And yet, while she did care about Sakura's love life, a little, as a friend, she had her own to worry about. Temari was back in town to visit, which meant the wench would be all over Shikamaru, just when she was about to leave on a mission. How that man could be so stupid boggled the mind. Why couldn't he just choose one of them or neither of them and be over with it? Making decisions in his personal life seemed to be the one thing the troublesome prodigy put off more that hard work. Didn't she send signals loud and clear after giving up on Sasuke? What did she need to do? Spell it out for him? Sighing, she sagged, catching her chin on the palm on her upturned hand.

Genma smirked. "Getting wistful already?"

"Shut up already. I'm just thinking."

"We already know Tsunade's going to lose this bet. She's lost every single bet dealing with Sakura, like the one where she infamously proclaimed that her protégé and the Uchiha boy would be married within the month after he returned. Or, when she claimed Sakura would settle into Naruto's apartment as soon as she lost her virginity to him. It must have been a truly horrifying experience sleeping with the runt if she slept with Lee afterwards, while the boy hooked up with that Hyuuga girl. Face it, Sakura and Kakashi falling for each other is not going to happen. Your friend is going to be an old maid."

She glared back at him. "No wonder Sakura keeps rejecting your flirtations. You're so negative when it comes to love."

"Love? Sorry, I lack a definition."

"It's a wonder you get laid at all."

Genma smirked, toying with the senbon hanging from the corner of his mouth. "There are a lot of things you need to learn, girl, especially about sex and men."

"There's a few things you need to learn, too, about love and women." Ino glared before her eyes abruptly shot back to Sakura and Kakashi. Apparently, the silver-haired man had said something that made her laugh lightly, her smile nearly beaming before she downed another cup of sake. How could her friend be so oblivious to the way his dark eye seemed to linger on her face? Tsunade must have seen it too. Then again, roaming eyes didn't mean love. If it did, Genma would have been in love with every woman in Konoha. She could almost feel his eyes sizing her up still, no matter how many times she snapped at him. Ino pouted. "He likes her, doesn't he."

"He likes looking at her. Hell, I like looking at her. Just looking won't make her legs part, though."

"Gah, can you not think about sex for one minute? Sakura is my friend after all."

"Do you really want to see her fall for him?" Genma asked, leaning back heavily in his chair. It was a good question. He was so much older than her, but definitely not unattractive, she supposed, if all the rumors of what he kept hidden under the mask were true. He was infinitely more mature as well, and experienced, but seemingly detached from the rest of the world, stuck in his own little bubble. Sakura, on the other hand, was very much grounded, sometimes immature for her age of twenty-two, and rather feisty when Kakashi wasn't holding her back. Slowly a smile crept onto the blonde's face as realization dawned on her. "You know, I don't think I could have picked a better man for her."

"You're just as love-struck as the rest. No wonder no one's popped your cherry yet," Genma muttered right before sake splashed all over his face, toppling over along with his chair in surprise. Ino threw the porcelain cup down on the table and stormed out of the bar before anyone could recognize her, radiating fury in her wake. A snort of laughter came from Kakashi as he turned away, shaking his head. "He must be losing his touch with women."

Sakura giggled, her inner self cheering on whatever woman had the guts to do that to Genma, vicarious revenge for all the times he'd tried to come on to her.

Now the laughing stock of the bar, the senbon-sucking man quickly picked himself up, and made a quick exit. He cursed under his breath the whole way out until he found Ino glaring at him from beside the doorway. Her arms crossed protectively over her chest, not a good sign. "If we're to continue working together, you can't flirt with me, and you can't insult me because I keep rejecting you."

"What? Can't take a little playing around, sweetheart?"

"Don't call me that. What you said in there wasn't playing around," Ino ground out through her teeth, just short of hissing at him. For a moment, the hurt in her blue eyes shone until she turned away, starting to walk off. "Do you want this mission or not? I will still go through with it alone . . . Not because it's my duty, but because I care about Sakura's happiness. She . . . she does deserve to be happy, after all."

Genma looked at the blonde for a moment, studying her. Maybe he was a little harsh to her. Usually he wasn't that mean to a woman who obviously didn't like him, like Ino. She really didn't want him. The thought made him scowl slightly despite the sting of sake in his eyes. "You really are her friend, aren't you?"

"Since childhood."

"I thought you two used to fight over the same boy?"

"We did, but then we grew out of it. Said boy wasn't all too great, anyway . . . This is beside the point, isn't it?" Ino asked, whirling back to face Genma. "Do you care about Kakashi's happiness or not? Are you in or not?"

"That man hasn't been happy since the day I met him," he said as the needle in his mouth bobbed up and down while he paused in thought, looking down. "At least he's not happy the way some people are. I don't think a woman is really gonna change that, but . . ."

Turning back to the bar for a moment before facing the kunoichi, Genma's posture slumped slightly, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Ok, you're right. He's too much of a sorry sack to be left completely alone, which is probably why I keep taking him drinking when he's around and not clinging to Sakura . . . Damn."

"What?"

"Maybe you and Tsunade are right about them. No man in their right mind would spend that much time around a beautiful, intelligent, nice, yet somewhat scary and frighteningly strong woman with a mean right hook, unless he really did like her . . . or she was putting out."

Ino's anger unchecked in a spontaneous response to cuff Genma across the back of the head so hard it made him spit the senbon into the dirt. Furiously rubbing at his abused skull, he glared at her. "Geez! It was just an observation! Consider it lesson one in the male mind!"

The blonde had long since started to walk off, not even bothering to wave back at him. She yelled across the street instead. "Tomorrow morning at the gates! We leave an hour after they do! Don't forget, Tsunade said winter clothes!"

"See you tomorrow, sweetheart!" he shouted back, more in anger than endearment. There was nothing but an angry snort before she was gone. Left alone, Genma smirked to himself before wandering back towards the bar. "I do like them feisty. This'll be more fun than I thought . . ."

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 2 of Dirty Deeds, Frosted Over. 


	2. Frosted Over

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 2 – Frosted Over

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever, if you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: See Part 1.

* * *

A cold, bitter wind blew off the surface of the bay, whipping the carefully plaited pink braid around the shoulder of the young woman. She stood by the side of a much taller man with a shock of silver hair facing the railings of the wooden ferry and the sea. Except for the unusual hair colors, they looked like any other pair of travelers taking the water transit across the bay to the great city of Snowfall. Well, at least its residents thought it was a great city. At a distance, it was at least impressive. Everything about the city seemed tall and modern, a forest of glass and steel. Smoke and steam rolled over the roofs of every building from chimneys, pipes, vents. The haze seemed to hang in the sky in the form of low, dark clouds, like it was about to storm any moment. But, instead of storming, it snowed.

Sakura wiped another snowflake away from her eyes with the back of her knit glove, turning slightly to look at the city, "You never told me Snowfall was that big of a city."

"I said it was the biggest city on the coast between Wave and Water. I'll try to be clearer next time," Kakashi muttered, glancing down at the book in his gloved hands as if the world around him didn't exist. Ignoring the remark, she looked over at him. After spending two days traveling over countryside interspersed with a series of smaller boat rides between islands, like normal, everything that morning seemed to change from their normal routine. Of course, it started with the way the older man dressed. It wasn't like they hadn't been forced into civilian garb before, but she should have known something was up as soon as he appeared in clothing so . . . fashionably yet understated.

To impress the client, he said, yeah right. But as she looked at him again with the city in the background, it made sense for him to dress, well, normal, casual, almost modern. No one on that ferry could possibly guess that he was the Great Copy Nin from the way he appeared. Perhaps it was because he blended into the surroundings so well when he usually stuck out in a crowd like a sore thumb that bothered her so much. He didn't look like the Kakashi she remembered, but it was still him alright.

The forehead protector over his eyes was gone, replaced instead with a black eye patch that wrapped over his head with a flap covering the left side. Sakura knew Kakashi's mask had disappeared too. The red scarf did an admirable job of covering just about everything in the mask's stead, except it slipped down his nose now and then. He wore a black felted wool long coat over a similarly dark, high-collared shirt and blood red sweater, both of which were tucked into a baggy pair of navy blue trousers while black snow boots covered his feet. He looked . . . normal, even with the beat up, drab grey backpack slung over his back. It was almost shocking, to her at least.

Sakura felt a little out of place beside the man, dressed a little more noticeable in comparison. Ok, a lot more noticeable. She had forgone a heavy winter coat for a rugged, cool grey travel cloak of wool velvet instead. Black shearling lined the hood, pulled down for the moment to rest on the back of her neck. An emerald green scarf was looped over her neck trailing down the back along with her braid. Underneath, she wore her usual white and red layered yukatas and indigo obi over a black turtleneck shirt, leaving her enameled clasp behind. Instead of the black shorts, Sakura picked out a skirt of dark green velvet that fell to just above her ankles. Gathered at the waist, the skirt flared wide enough to not get hung up in case of trouble, but then again, neither of them expected any trouble. If she thought there was going to be any form of trouble, she would have packed black leather boots without heels instead.

She wished though that he would have told her how modern this city was, then she would have packed more appropriate things. "Still milling over your wardrobe?" Kakashi asked, not bothering to glance up from the worn pages, "You look fine. I told you that this morning. Stop pouting."

Now she regretted telling him her doubts to begin with, pouting even more just to piss him off, "But you could have told me sooner. I would have left the obi at home."

"Sakura, you already stuffed that duffle bag to the limits. I doubt you left anything at home regardless."

At the mention of the bag, she shifted its weight on her shoulder before crossing her arms, "You didn't tell me to pack light."

"That's because this isn't a week long mission. Three changes of clothes alone won't last a month. You never listen to me anyway when I do tell you to pack light," there was an amused glint in Kakashi's dark eye as he reached out to dust the snow of her bangs, "Stop worrying. You look cute in a cloak."

Sakura deflected the intruding hand and turned away with a stomp and a huff, leaving him to blink at the reaction. Was being called cute that offensive? Apparently it was as she pulled up her hood, hiding from him. Kakashi could only imagine the tempest of thoughts going through the young woman's head, mostly directed at him and with plenty of anger behind them. But, on the bright side, she never took it out on him with her fists no matter how trivial or hurtful it got. Given a few moments of solitude or distraction, Sakura usually calmed down to the point where she forgot the offense in the first place; all he had to do was wait.

After a few moments of waiting, he looked up from the book to say something when he saw her start to pull away from the railing. "We're here," there was a very child-like thrill of joy in her voice when she said that, turning to him with a beaming smile.

From angry with him to eager and excitable in record time, but at least she had yet to break Naruto's mood swing records. Kakashi closed his book and shoved it into a coat pocket, careful to make sure it didn't bump against any of the weapons concealed all over him. "It's just a big city, Sakura-chan," he said while following next to her, purposefully going slow in the crowd, "Once you've seen one, you've seen them all."

* * *

The blonde sighed, hugging her light brown longcoat tightly closed, "Why couldn't they have been assigned to someplace warmer? Like Suna?"

Genma frowned., rolling the toothpick over his tongue till it hung from the other corner of his mouth. It had been like this between them ever since they left Konoha's gates. About every two hours Ino would find something to complain about. First it was the dirt, then the water travel, and now the cold. Ok, so it was cold. It was snowing after all, but did she really have to bemoan that fact every fifteen minutes since the ferry ride started? It distracted him from watching Sakura and Kakashi on the deck below them. So far there was nothing, even the small argument that sprung up fizzled out within moment. He frowned, "They're much too comfortable with each other."

"So? Women do like getting along with men they're close to. It's called a relationship," Ino said with a smirk before rubbing her gloved hands together furiously to warm them, "I'm gonna get frostbitten out here . . ."

Growling in frustration, he took her hands in his and rubbed them, "Their relationship is just friends right now, and it'll stay that way because there's no challenge to it. Friction is more interesting than the same blah every single day. It's probably why couples unconsciously fight, because otherwise they'd lose interest in one another."

Finally noticing what he was doing to her, Ino ripped her hands back, glaring at him incredulously. And yet, when Genma simply grinned, the voice telling her to bite his head off died off. She stuffed her hands inside her pockets instead, "It doesn't sound like a healthy relationship . . ."

"Nothing is ever perfect . . ." he trailed off, turning back to see a crowd forming on the lower deck for the docking, "Better?"

"Much, thank you," Ino said, her voice almost nonexistent. If Genma even heard her, he didn't say anything, too busy heading for the stairs. Sighing, she followed, idly wondering how he knew about all that relationship and necessary friction stuff to begin with. Maybe he wasn't as much of a philanderer as she thought. He might even possess something resembling a heart. It brought a smile to her face . . . until she found him at the bottom of the stairs, leering at a passing woman instead of following their targets. Nope, he was still Genma after all.

* * *

Navigating the busy sidewalks seemed hazardous from Sakura's perspective behind Kakashi. Even if he was bigger than her, people still didn't move out of their chosen paths too easily. The packed snow underfoot didn't help either. They rounded the busy intersection, weaving between the many carts, pedestrians, and few cars till they were on a narrow street between two giant buildings. The path was crowded with people only, restricted to foot traffic as then passed under a series of arches supported stone columns into an open plaza covered with more snow.

For a moment, Sakura wondered where Kakashi has led her till she felt her feet slid. She yelped and flailed. Only a quick grab from her partner saved the kunoichi from falling onto her ass in the snow. His eye creased at her, still latched onto her forearm, and she knew he was silently laughing to himself, "Now, Sakura-chan, aren't you sorry you didn't pick more practical snow boots?"

She quickly found her footing and yanked her arm back, "These are practical. I do know how to walk in heels, thank you . . . that ice was just very well disguised."

Walking proudly past him, Sakura's feet didn't slide out from under her this time. She stopped after wandering into the center of the plaza, looking around at the different buildings. Each structure looked so different from the next. Half of them were tall, thin delicate creations of glass and steel while the smaller ones were covered in ornate stone carvings and masonry. She'd seen cities before in Fire Country similar, but never one this wildly overgrown with humanity. "Where are we, Kakashi?" she asked, sounding slightly awed as she spun around to take in the view.

"Probably the only stable city in existence since no daimyo will touch it. Aside from all the money and people passing through here, there's nothing here. There's no trees, no farms, no mines, no great fishing, no forests, just people, and snow," he explained once she stopped twirling around, "That's why money owns this town and no one else."

"Aren't they worried it could be attacked? There's a daimyo to defend it, isn't there?"

"Each of the buildings you see here is technically their own little power in the city, most of them are large trading businesses. They fight with each other not the way we do, but with money, yet they all need this city to be at peace to survive, so they work together for the people's protection. If a daimyo did get it into their head to attack this city, I imagine each of those companies would pay Konoha, Suna, or any of the other villages enough to insure it never happened."

"I guess some things are more powerful than jutsus . . . I wonder why more places aren't like this."

"It's just the way things are, Sakura," Kakashi said as he pulled out a small piece of paper from a coat pocket, reading the scribble on it, "I thought you would have learned that after four years of traveling with me?"

Before she could answer, he then started to walk towards the tallest glass and steel building in the plaza. She followed, hovering just behind his right shoulder, "So our client is in there? I wonder who she is to be able to pay so much for just two ninjas."

"She's probably all the way at the top."

Her green eyes widened slightly, looking at the very top of the building, "How are we going to get up there?"

Kakashi stopped and turned towards her. He was clearly overjoyed by her question, reaching under her hood to ruffle her hair, "Through the front door, of course."

Sakura gawked at him, "Are you nuts!? We're just supposed to walk right in there, say we're ninjas from Konoha, and expect to be taken right to our client who's likely the head of the company while we look like two wanderers?"

"Um . . . yes?"

"Oh, well, when you put it so eloquently . . ." she deadpanned, shifting her hips to the side while crossing her arms, "Maybe we should just tell them that you're Kakashi of the Sharingan eye too."

Kakashi's eye narrowed on her. Why didn't the lack of faith in her surprise him? Sakura may have trusted him and vice versa, but she wasn't stupid either. Walking in the front door to meet anyone always sounded stupid, but given that their mission wasn't direly important or difficult made the point moot. His gaze softened a moment, reaching out his hand, "Just trust me, ok?"

Sakura's eyes went from the hand to his scarf-covered face and back again. He had to use that word, didn't he? Trust. She did trust him, even at times when he nearly got her killed, humiliated, or worse, yet she still trusted him, and he knew that. He always played the trust card when he knew he was right too, which only aggravated her more. Why did he always have to be so right? Sighing exhaustively, she took his hand, letting him pull her along as they walked towards the building. "If you're wrong, I reserve the 'I told you so' rights," she grumbled, trudging through the snow, "Like always."

Kakashi shrugged and slipped his hand from hers, shoving it back into a pocket. That was about as much of a response as she was going to get.

* * *

"I told you so."

Sakura tried not to seethe in anger at those words from the silver-haired man, but she couldn't help at least sending one burning glare in his direction. She hated it when he was right. All it took to get sent straight up to see their client was one mention of Kakashi's name and a form of ID. It was even written in the front desk secretary's list of appointments; Hatake Kakashi, three o'clock. This had to be some parallel world they'd stepped into, some crack in space where being a well-known ninja didn't immediately make people want to kill you.

The situation certainly felt surreal as they stood side by side in the empty elevator, the floors ticking by on a set of lit numbers at the top of the doorway. After a long silent moment, Sakura finally spoke, "That was too easy."

"You're being paranoid."

"You just gave out your name. I don't think you're nearly paranoid enough. What about that one time near Grass when a ninja working for that crime boss we were supposed to get close to recognized your name?"

"How were we supposed to know that boss had hired outside help? We still got the information, even if it was through Morino torturing the poor bastard after we kidnapped him and ran."

"And that time near Rock when that missing-nin running a gang heard your name from the innkeeper and sent his whole goon squad to beat us down?"

"They were shocked as hell to be buried alive in one shot by such a petite thing like you."

"I was nineteen, and I wasn't that short!" Sakura screeched at him, "But that's beside the point! The point is every time you drop your name, something bad happens."

"Then we'll just have to be on our toes, won't we?"

"Kakashi . . ." she growled, a threatening edge to her voice.

"There are no other ninjas around here for miles unless they're on missions too. We're not up against organized crime here either. We're surrounded by civilians and petty street gangs, worst we'll encounter is a bunch of thugs looking for a mugging. Stop worrying," he tried to reassure her as the elevator doors slid open, "Besides, it isn't good for your health."

Despite what he said, Sakura still grumbled to herself while stepping off the lift right behind him. Another desk and another smiling woman surrounded by expensive wooden paneling waited in front them. She looked busy but happy, fingers flying across a keyboard while a phone was nestled between her shoulder and her ear. Before either of the ninjas said a word, her hands stopped typing and a finger pointed towards a set of double doors to their right, "She'll see you now. Go right in."

With a nod, Kakashi went right for the doors in spite of Sakura's continued mutterings, "I still don't like this."

"And I said to stop worrying," he hissed in frustration, "Make sure to smile for our client. She's paying a lot for us both."

"Then do keep your mouth under control."

"Same goes for your temper, Sakura-chan."

"I do not-!" she started to yell before cutting her voice off when Kakashi opened the doors. The sight on the other side stopped her words cold anyway. Across the large, lavishly decorated office, and behind an expansive black marble desk, sat a pale, thin woman looking down at a series of paper while a younger man leaned down pointing out something. At the sound of feet, they both looked up, but only the woman smiled.

The first thing Sakura noticed about her was the fine lines at the corners of her brown eyes, giving her age away. Despite the rich darkness of her long brunette hair, she was either as young as forty or something happened to make her appear so weathered. The dark suit she wore didn't make her look any younger either even if it did give off an air of professionalism. She was beautiful once, but it was gone. And yet, the lady's smile seemed to burst with confidence and radiance while looking at them both, and for a moment, it made the kunoichi feel a little inferior. "That's all, Takashi, I want those reports approved by this afternoon," the woman said as the young man nodded then quickly moved across the room with the papers.

Once he was gone out the door, the woman motioned them forward while leaning back in her chair, looking up at Kakashi, "You must be Hatake-san."

He nodded once then motioned towards Sakura as she lowered the hood of her cloak, "My partner, Ha-."

The first syllable of her last name was barely out of his mouth when she interrupted, "And Haruno-san. I know."

Both of the ninjas blinked, keeping the surprise to themselves. Regardless, he continued as normal, "Formalities aside, I am Kakashi, and this is Sakura. We are at your service."

The brunette nodded while her smile widened, "I am Minagawa Jun, president of this company, Minagawa Eastern Trading. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, both of you. I hope the journey wasn't too hard. You both look rather tired. Perhaps we should discuss business later once you're both settled in?"

"I believe we'd like to get to work, Jun-san," Sakura interrupted, knowing Kakashi was thinking along the same lines even if he wouldn't admit it, "I'm sort of eager to hear who's life we're destroying."

For a moment, Jun's smile faltered almost into a smirk, "The life you're destroying is that of my husband, Minagawa Hiro."

The two ninjas glanced at each other, neither of them surprised in the least.

"Perhaps you both should sit down and get comfortable. There's much to discuss."

Finding chairs nearby, they both dropped their packs and unbundled themselves from their winter outerwear, except for Kakashi's scarf which stayed put. By the time they were settled, Jun had moved to stand before them, leaning back on the desk. From her vantage point, Sakura could tell that she was smaller than the older woman, who stood fairly tall and impressive. Her suit looked better when she stood than from behind a desk, and more expensive. And yet, once she was on her feet, Jun's posture changed, no longer that of a powerful woman but of one that was nearly defeated. Her spirit looked broken as well . . . almost. Suddenly, Sakura knew why she looked so old, and why they were hired.

Her situation wasn't by choice, and whatever had befallen her, she was going to fight back.

"My grandfather started this company in Snowfall, trading from the mainland into the Land of Water before the other competitors sprung up. He was a great merchant, founded the exchange here as well. The company was then passed onto my father. He didn't have any sons, just me to name as his heir. Since I was little I've been groomed to run this company. Its existence has been the only thought in my head for twenty years, since I was twenty-one," she said before standing up straight and pacing the carpet slowly.

"I met Hiro when I was twenty-six. He was one of the younger traders working his way up the ladder like everyone else while I was working as the chief financial officer at the time. Back then, all the employees knew I stood to inherit the company when my father passed away, which looked to be soon when he had his first heart attack at sixty. I had half the bachelor population of the city chasing me. Life seemed perfect if a bit lonely."

"I noticed Hiro because he was the only one of the men I was surrounded by who was purposefully not trying to court my attention. I found him handsome if a bit understated. He knew he wasn't the best looking or the brightest, so he didn't try to be anything he wasn't, and I found it refreshing from all the male posturing. Almost everything that happened between us I initiated, our first private conversation, the flirting, our first date, our first kiss. My father didn't disapprove of the relationship. I think he secretly liked Hiro as much as I did and cheered us on. He even gave his blessing when Hiro proposed to me, even adopted him into the family. Deciding to marry me was the first thing my husband did without the slightest nudge from me. I accepted because I was certain then that he really loved me . . ."

The way Jun's wistful monologue trailed off made a chill run down Sakura's spine, feeling the twist in the tale coming. When she spoke again, the fondness in her voice was gone, "Once we were married, things changed after the first year. I think it started when I began spending more time at the office at nights than in our bed. Maybe he was jealous that the company demanded all of my attention, but our relationship at that point became very strained. To save it, I began working from home, like a semi-normal housewife while he went to the office instead. It worked for a time until Hiro suggested it was time to start our family, a child, an heir. We tried, and failed. When I became pregnant and miscarried for the second time, the strain broke us both. We started sleeping in separate parts of the house while I went back to work formally. Our marriage was practically over. And yet, by all outward appearances, we were still happy. My father died of another heart attack last year believing I was loved."

Anger flashed over Jun's brown eyes, her hand clenching the desk behind her, "The death changed what little love I had left for my husband to hate when they read the will. I don't know if Hiro knew about it or not, but the lawyers for the company persuaded my father to change succession plans since I could not have children. If I was still infertile one year after his death, control of the company would shift to Hiro and I would be wiped from the picture, but only with the board of directors' approval. Naturally, he hasn't touched me since. Six months ago he filed for separation and moved out of our home to another apartment. One month later I found out he was seeing another woman, a much younger woman than myself."

Sakura shrank in the chair, almost wanting to curl up when the lady abruptly turned away and moved to sit down at her desk again. She could still feel the daggers in Jun's eyes needling her, as if she were a substitute target for her hatred of her husband's mistress. Kakashi broke the silence that had fallen, "I understand. Our objective then is to remove the other woman from the picture, gently, and ruin him in front of the company's controlling body so that you may remain president?"

The smile that broke out across Jun's face was at once malevolent and radiant; brimming with the same confidence she exuded earlier, "That is precisely what I had in mind."

She opened a drawer in the desk and removed a package, sliding the thick envelope forward after setting it down, "Inside here is a list of addressed with the names and addresses of all the company's directors and officers, my contact information, and every piece of information on my husband and his mistress I could collect. To cover your presence in the building, I've added you both to my personal payroll as temporary specialists. Your ID cards for security purposes is in there as well. Photos from the security cams in the elevator took them, so I'm afraid they're none too flattering."

"I also took the liberty of setting up accommodations in a hotel not far from here. The address is in there. I hope they are to your needs and liking. There is also some spending money in there for your needs. The amount won't be deducted from your pay, I assure you. I haven't hired . . . professional help before, so please forgive me if I overstepped my bounds."

The pair of ninjas exchanged glances again, silently communicating the same thought. What in the world had Tsunade signed them up for?

Sakura smiled cordially, trying not to seem flustered, "Thank you, Jun-san, we appreciate the consideration you've taken since we're kind of used to . . . well . . ."

"Roughing it," Kakashi said bluntly, "To be honest, I don't think Konoha's finest has ever been hired for social sabotage before."

She laughed softly, brown eyes seemingly delighted by the Copy nin's turn of phrase, "I can well imagine how this situation is out of your usual areas of expertise. It's why I asked Tsunade-sama for her best. She praised you both for being highly inventive in sticky situations."

At the compliment, Sakura snorted giggles, "Well, that would be one way to put it."

"Do you have any further questions for me?" Jun asked as Kakashi reached for the envelope. For a moment, he froze, looking at their client's left hand intently. There was a plain platinum band on her second to last finger. He abruptly looked down at the envelope in his hands and sat back down before either of the women noticed.

"If you don't mind, I am sort of curious why we were hired. Surely you're resourceful enough to engineer you husband's ruin on your own?" Sakura asked, looking across from her to see her silver-haired partner wince slightly then glare at her, "What?"

"Well, I thought it would be obvious that if the board knows I had a hand in undermining him. It would all fall apart . . ."

"Oh . . ." she said sheepishly, "Sorry, I'm still trying to get a handle on the situation. It is unusual for us."

"I cannot think of any questions right now. Perhaps it would be best if we sorted through the information on our own to begin, and formed a plan from there. Should we be in contact with you regularly?" Kakashi asked as he stuffed the envelope into his backpack after pulling some things from it.

Jun nodded, motioning towards her phone, "One call a week will suffice, just to know my money is being put to good use. Starting tomorrow I'll be taking the month off till the meeting to be further removed from developments unless the situation changes. Please call on my home number if either of you need any further assistance. I don't think it would be wise to meet in my office again lest the walls grow ears."

They both nodded, starting to rise from their chairs. Sakura had her cloak nearly clasped round her neck when another question popped up in her head, "Um, since you said we're covering as temps, what area of expertise are we specialized in?"

Kakashi answered instead, tossing a card towards the kunoichi, "Troubleshooting."

A smirk crossed her face as she looked down at the filmy piece of plastic. It did indeed say troubleshooting. She pouted in the picture with her eyes glancing to the side, like she had earlier in the elevator ride. If she wasn't so amused at the moment by just about everything about their assignment, she might have been upset by the crappy photo. Jun smiled at them both, "Thank you both again. I look forward to the results of your work."

Sakura beamed back at her, a tinge of ill intent seeping into her too cheerful voice, "Don't worry. I doubt he'll be able to show his face again in public ever again when we're done."

* * *

It took another elevator ride up another building for Kakashi to finally crack the silence on the topic of their client that had fallen ever since leaving Minagawa Jun's office, "I can't believe you asked that, or that you said that."

Sakura glanced at him while sagging slightly, her bag only feeling heavier as the day of trudging through the snow carried on. He picked wonderful times to be a conversationalist, usually at the moments she least expected it. Why couldn't he just be normal and fight with her over meals or something? All throughout dinner in that corner shop he hadn't said one word about their mission, Jun, or their meeting. Aside from eating, the only thing Kakashi did was listen to her ask more questions about the city, most of which he deemed too uninteresting to answer. No, he just had to wait to speak till they had already checked into the hotel and were heading towards their room and nice, soft beds. To say Sakura was annoyed with the Copy nin at that moment would have been an understatement, "What?"

"Didn't Tsunade teach you anything about handling clients? I thought you would have picked it up by now, after how many missions?" he asked, almost as if he was scolding her. He hadn't spoken to her or the boys like that since they were genin. It made the kunoichi frown till she was almost pouting with petulance, "What did I do wrong?"

"First, you never question why they hired you, especially with a dumb question. Ever since she explained about the board I knew why we were hired. You should have known too."

"It doesn't explain why she's paying so much though. Our salaries are never that big. It made me curious."

"I made me curious too, but I kept it to myself. Don't look gift horses in the mouth."

"What kind of antiquated saying is that?"

Kakashi's eye rolled as he pulled the envelope from his backpack, thumbing through the pages, "It means that if she's paying this much, don't question it or she could change her mind and we would be out of jobs. Besides, with her story, this mission may be harder technically than we think."

"I'll agree with you there. It's not like we can put a 'kick me' sign on him."

"That brings up my second point, never promise a client anything. You never know when you can't deliver."

"I didn't promise Jun-san anything! Don't go putting words in my mouth!" Sakura shouted at him, scandalized. She was about to yell more when the elevator doors opened. A group of people filed in, pushing them to the back of the elevator and closer together. Bristling with anger, she glared at Kakashi, green eyes almost daring him to say something. The dare worked as he slung an arm over her shoulder, leaning down towards her ear, "Sakura, you practically did promise her. What did you say before we left?"

Her jaw clenched as she remembered the words, hissing them back at him under her breath, "That he'd never be able to show his face in public again."

"That's a tall order to fill."

She roughly shrugged the arm off her shoulder, "Well, I'm sorry, but it seemed like the thing to say at the time. I'll just keep it to myself then . . . even if that's why we're here."

"I don't think that's what she even wants . . ."

Sakura's anger came to an abrupt halt as she looked at him curiously, "What do you think she wants then?"

For a moment, Kakashi's eye lingered over hers, and she was sure there was a flicker somewhere in the dark depths of something that she didn't understand. Quickly, he looked away, sliding sideways along the wall away from her, "I don't know yet for certain. I'll tell you later."

Her annoyance with him kicked back into place as she looked away as well. He was being as mysterious and evasive as usual. Sakura muttered under her breath, "Fine, I'll just wait for you to get a clue then."

* * *

Ino fell face first into the pillows of the large bed, her moans muffled in the fabric and feathers. From his spot by the window, Genma glanced over his shoulder and smirked, still chewing thoughtfully on the same toothpick. If she hadn't taken up all of the bed, he might have joined her in crashing. By the time they'd found a room in perfect view of their targets' own hotel room, the sun had set over the city and the two ninjas were nearly frozen stiff. All the walking since coming from the ferry hadn't helped either; neither did all the sitting while the pair they followed met with their client. That particular part seemed to last forever as they staked out the plaza from the roof tops for who knew how many hours. Maybe this mission wasn't going to be as easy or as fun as he thought, especially when the blonde's complaining and comments didn't seem to ever end. For now though, she was blessedly silent . . . almost.

She rolled over with a groan, looking at him wearily while still bundled up in her cream scarf and brown longcoat, "What are you looking at?"

"Kakashi and Sakura pouring over papers at a table, they just finished unpacking their bags after changing clothes," Genma answered, pulling the binoculars away from his eyes momentarily, "All professionalism. How can he be all business when the cherry blossom's right there in nothing but a tank top and shorts?"

"Is his mask off?"

"No, the bastard put it back on when she changed in the bathroom. His shirt is off though."

Ino sprung up from the bed, tossing off her coat and scarf before eagerly joining him by the window, "Let me see?"

"You're going to ogle him, aren't you?"

"Like you're not doing the same thing to my friend, hand them over," she demanded pointedly, putting her hand out. Reluctantly, Genma grumbled and gave her the binoculars. As soon as she got them to her eyes and found the right window, a low whistle passed her lips. "Who would have thought all that would be hidden under baggy uniforms?" Ino said clearly overjoyed by the sight of the Copy nin's bare chest, "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, how can you be so blind with all that perfectly compacted, taunt muscle just sitting there? Well maybe he is a little too white except on the arms, but still! Sasuke was even paler!"

"Hey, wait, at least I kept my ogling to myself," Genma groused as he tried to take the binoculars back, only making Ino giggle as she fended him off and pushed him back towards their luggage. Sighing, he shucked off his heavy grey coat and starting unpacking, "Their mission must be some big deal if their client is putting them up in that fancy room."

"It doesn't look that fancy. The furniture and kitchen maybe, but they're still sharing one bed and one bathroom."

"If it was Kakashi's choice, they'd be shacked up in some rat hole with just a bed and bathroom."

"You mean sort of like us?" Ino quipped, taking in the scant surroundings and mismatched décor of their hotel room, "I hope you brought a bed roll. You are not sleeping next to me."

"Who said you were getting the bed?"

"Because it's the gentlemanly thing to do!"

"Who said I was a gentleman?" Genma smirked as he stuffed another handful of clothes into a drawer, "And contrary to popular rumors, I can keep my hands to myself."

Ino snorted in derision, "I'll believe it when I don't feel it."

Grumbling, he ignored the cut and went back to work. Similarly, the blond kunoichi went back to spying at the window, "Oh, looks like they're done, they're moving into the bedroom."

Dropping the clothes, Genma moved to stand over her shoulder, looking out the window too, "They taking anything else off? Did he touch her?"

"No, you pervert. They're just sitting down, wait, Sakura's lying down. Her back is to him."

"What's Kakashi doing?"

"He's still sitting up . . . reading those books of his again."

"Reading!? What kind of man is he to be reading when the real thing is almost asleep right beside him!?"

"Wait. A few days ago you thought they had all the sexual tension between them of ice cubes. Even this morning you said there was no friction between them. Why do you suddenly assume they're sleeping together?" Ino asked, her blue eyes narrowing on him.

Genma grin lasciviously, bending down slightly to whisper in her ear, "Because if I was sleeping next to a beautiful woman, I wouldn't need porn to be satisfied."

"You are such an ass . . ." the blonde growled, which only made his smile broaden. Rather than giving in to the urge to slap the cocky grin off his face, she elbowed him in the gut instead, pushing him back. The toothpick dropped from his mouth. He doubled over at the blow, clutching his stomach. Ignoring the ninja's groans of pain, Ino walked past him and dropped the binoculars on the bed before grabbing her pack, "They've gone to bed. No more show for tonight. I'm taking a shower and turning in. Why don't you do something useful, like figure out how we're going to follow them tomorrow, or how to bug their room in a way that they won't uncover in ten minutes?"

"I'm sure their conversations will be most stimulating," he muttered sarcastically, still rubbing the sore spot in his abdomen, "We still haven't discussed sleeping arrangements."

She stopped by the bathroom door, turning back towards him, "I get the bed. You get the floor."

"That's hardly a discussion . . ."

"Then you should have gotten another room."

"We couldn't afford two rooms, sweetheart," Genma growled, his temper starting to flare, "Why can't be just share the bed? Our two friends seem to be able to stand each other enough to make it work. No groping I swear, but if you feel the need . . ."

Blue eyes bore into him. If looks could kill he would have been dead on the spot. "You, Shiranui Genma, are the last man I would ever willingly touch."

"You don't have to like me. You just have to work with me here," he muttered, glaring back. For a moment, Ino's head popped back in surprise. He was being sincere, or at least sounded like it. Maybe the sex-fiend had a point. She really didn't have to like him, just tolerate him enough to get the job done. Maybe he could keep his hands to himself, and if he didn't . . .

The blonde's smile made Genma's skin creep, too bright to be good for his health, "Alright, fine. We'll share the bed, but on one condition."

He gulped the nervous lump in his throat, "What's that?"

"Your hands stay to themselves. If I find them anywhere I don't like in the morning, then said hands will be meeting the business end of my kunai. Am I clear?"

Genma nodded dumbly as Ino retreated into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Once she was gone, the brown-haired ninja let out a sigh of relief. At least she threatened just his hands and not either his balls or his ass. He sat down on the bed, and decided to change for the night too as he undressed. This mission had to be one of Tsunade's ideas of a sick joke, partnering him with Ino, rumor mistress of Konoha and quite possibly one of the most fridge women he'd ever known. While the blonde may have looked the temptress part for years, every male in the village knew that she never did anything remotely scandalous anymore. Sakura, who was still the picture of innocence to many men of the Leaf, had more experience with the opposite sex than her friend, and everyone knew it.

It didn't help that the poor woman constantly nagged her ex-teammate Shikamaru in public and pined over him in private. Everyone in the village knew that as well. It didn't explain though why she treated him like he was going to feel her up at any given moment. She made it quite well known any advances on her person weren't welcomed, and harping on it didn't improve their working relationship. Honestly, he wasn't that bad. Well, maybe self-restraint wasn't his middle name like Kakashi, but he wasn't completely devoid of control. And her cutting voice running through his head just about killed any desire he could have felt anyway, though she wasn't too bad to look at when she wasn't talking.

By the time Genma was down to his underwear, he had come to a realization about how to deal with Ino. If she wasn't interested in him, and detested him this much, then he wasn't interested either. Really, as fun as it was to tease her, and as much as he loved making her attitude flare for him over the past few days, it wasn't worth the trouble. He had to be focused after all. Making two people fall in love against their will was serious work. Grabbing a pair of dark blue drawstring pants, he shucked them on while smirking to himself.

Love was a serious business indeed.

* * *

Kakashi rubbed his left eye as he sat up from the warm bed. The moon was still up by the bright light reflecting on the snow across the city. He should have been up an hour ago, yet, it was just like him to be late anyway. Glancing over his shoulder at the sleeping kunoichi, she didn't stir once from her slumber, turned away from him. He'd gotten used to catching glimpses of her curled up like that over the years on watch. It amazed him that no matter what they did in the name of their duty to Konoha, or how much death or evil they'd seen, she still slept soundly. Sometimes, he was amazed that he slept soundly too in spite of being put through much worse than her.

Mindlessly, he reached out to move a long strand of pink hair tangled on her lips. Sakura murmured, still fast asleep. He probably should have woken her up to go with him on the small journey he was about to take, but didn't. She would understand in the morning. No matter how often Kakashi left her in the dark on missions, she didn't seem to mind, possibly because she kept her own secrets from him. He didn't mind either because he trusted her. Sakura was one of the smartest kunoichi in her class after all. She proved that by staying alive and sane all these years when lesser shinobi would have fallen long ago with everything they had been through. Trust, it was such a hard thing to describe sometimes to someone else, but between two people it was an unspoken unanimous decision.

He rose from the bed, grabbing his boots, eye patch, scarf, coat, and an old grey pullover shirt to wear with the black drawstring pants he slept in. It wasn't nice to keep a lady waiting. Dressed, the ninja stepped out onto the balcony and jumped. Kakashi passed along the rooftops with ease, little to stop him. He'd memorized the address earlier after looking over all the information Jun had given them. It didn't surprise him at all that he knew the street she lived on, the same upper-crust residential area as the man he had killed many years ago for ANBU and Konoha.

Within maybe five minutes of travel, he dropped down from the stone wall surrounding an opulent house and into a garden. Slipping along the shadows, the ninja moved through the snow to a patio then up a set of steps to a porch covered by stone archways. A set of glass doors sat under the arches, leading into the living room of the house. Golden light glowed from within, emanating from a roaring fireplace and several lanterns around the room. In the middle of it all was a red velvet chaise, a woman with dark brunette hair in a white robe lying down on it. A wine glass dangled from her hand while a bottle sat on the low table before her.

He had assumed right after all. Jun, it seemed, wasn't sleeping much. Kakashi turned the door handle, and wasn't surprised at all to find it unlocked. He stepped inside, a cold breeze following him into the warm room before closing it. The woman didn't move except to slosh the contents of the wine glass she held, "I knew you'd show up eventually tonight."

"My apologies, for being late."

"Your partner?"

"Sleeping."

"Do you usually come to interrogate your clients on your own?" Jun asked, her words slightly slurred, "Doesn't seem like a sound practice to me to go solo."

If Kakashi was surprised, he didn't show it while leisurely moving from the doorway to stand in front of the fire, "If I suspected any trace of deceit, I would not be here."

"Why are you here then, Hatake-san? To make an old woman nervous?" Jun asked, ignoring any glances he threw her way as she leaned forward to refill her glass, "I've always heard stories of how ninjas worked from my father. He hired a few now and then for matters he couldn't talk his way out of. Chance and fate must have favored me when I found the contact information he left just in my time of need. Tsunade-sama seemed so understanding when she heard my story through the letter I sent . . ."

She stopped pouring the amber colored wine, staring intently into the liquid as she spoke, "My father always said he felt like he was hiring wolves when he hired ninjas, like the same hand that he shook would tear his throat out the next. Dangerous things, ninjas, but I dare say you and miss pinkie seem almost harmless."

The brunette gave a drunken giggle, "You must think me a fool for hiring you both for such a silly mission, and to pay so much. My father, the cheapskate, would be rolling in his grave."

Kakashi tried not to smirk under his mask. She wasn't foolish to him, just drunk, but at least she made a more amusing drunk than any of the other women he knew. If he let her keep going, he wouldn't need to question her at all. But as she sighed and sagged down on the chaise, he knew that Jun was no longer amused in drinking, "You want to know why I'm paying so much, don't you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, but maybe you would like to listen to my theory?" she gave a bob of her head, and the Copy nin continued, "The money is a failsafe, a last revenge tactic against both the company and your husband. If our mission succeeds and he is ruined publicly, but the broad still vote him over you, we will still be paid and the company will be deeply in debt."

"How perceptive of you. No wonder Tsunade-sama recommended you," Jun nodded, motioning with a limp hand towards an over-stuffed chair nearby, "Sit. Have some wine. I am done drinking myself."

Kakashi took the seat, but didn't reach for the wine, "Why? Even if we do succeed and you are president still of Minagawa Eastern Trading, we will still be paid."

"But the money will come from my own accounts and not the business ones as I would authorize as my last act as president."

He smirked, "You'd be poor."

"But I'd be free. I can always make more money . . ." Jun said dismissively, rolling away from him till he was faced with her back.

"That brings me to another theory of mine. Can you indulge me a moment and consider my idle thoughts?"

Her head turned towards him slightly and nodded. Kakashi took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, putting words to the thought that plagued him ever since they left her office, "I do not believe you want us to succeed at all . . . or at least not the way you have stated to us."

He noticed her back tense, ridged, "What are you suggesting, Hatake-san?"

"I believe you still love your husband."

"And I believe you're wrong! How could I love the man I despise more each and every day?!" Jun yelled as she flew up to sitting, wheeling on him, "He is the one that left! He is the one that ignored me! He fractured everything by his wants! He's taken everything I ever gave him! My youth! My love! My devotion! My heart! I will not let him take my life!"

She screamed in frustration, grabbing the glass and hurling it into the fire. The flames erupted as they consumed the alcohol, roaring for a few moments before dying down. Jun's anger seemed to die with them as she sagging down onto the chaise. Throughout all the dramatics, he remained unmoved from the chair, watching. Her hands covered her face, and Kakashi knew her tears were barely being held back while her shoulders shook. After a minute of silence, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, "I . . . I don't love him . . . I don't. Why would I put myself through this if I did?"

Of course, he had a theory on that too, but he kept it to himself. Somehow, he just knew it. Even if Jun didn't admit it out loud, or even to herself, the ninja knew she still loved her husband. She wasn't fighting to save her position; she was fighting to save her marriage. She was still in love with the bastard who it appeared to be ruining her. His eye drooped more than normal. "I won't ask any further," he said when she had calmed down.

The older woman nodded, "I am sorry . . . for acting out. It wasn't right of me. You should see for yourselves how Hiro is without my judgment. Maybe then you'd understand my pain . . ."

"There is no need to apologize. I do have a question after reading the information you left us. This may be hard for you to answer . . ."

Jun sighed, "I shouldn't have tossed that glass. I feel the sudden need to drink again."

"Um, well . . ."

"Oh, ask your question already. I can take it."

"How exactly did you both break up? There must have been something that happened if he only moved out six months ago."

A snort came from the woman followed by a cynical chuckle, "She happened, that's what happened, that vapid, grubby little twit with the fake boobs and even faker hair color. She only wants him for his money, and I bet he only wants her for that tight little body of hers. The woman actually laughs all bubbly and cute around him, as if there wasn't one mature bone in her entire being. And he dotes on her like a love-struck fool. It's disgusting."

Kakashi nodded blankly, "I assume he was seeing her before he moved out."

"Oh, when we separated it wasn't over her. He told me he just needed space, somewhere away from me so he could decide. When I found out one month later about her, I also found out that she was with him three months previously, behind my back . . ." Jun trailed off, looking at him from over her shoulder, "She's the same age as your companion you know, twenty-two. Ironically, he's one year older than you, thirty-seven, but you look better than he does, I think, even with the hideous mask. You both look like a nicer couple than my Hiro and that tramp."

The silver-haired ninja coughed at the assessment, wondering how she knew their ages, "I suppose that is one form of compliment. How did you . . .?"

She giggled again, "Tsunade-sama sent me profiles on you both and a few others along with her personal opinion, so I could pick who I liked to work for me since I am paying so much. Don't worry, I burned them, but I memorized some of the details. You two seemed more serious than the others, unlike that one Uzumaki-san, or Nara-san. I guess I chose right."

He smirked, making a mental note to speak with the Hokage when they got home, "That was rather thoughtful of her . . . is there anything else you can say about the other woman."

She snorted then giggled slightly, "At least the little whore isn't living with him, but she still sees him daily . . ." the humor in Jun's voice abruptly stopped, descending into bitterness, "I knew she was trouble as soon as I heard her name, Takara . . . would it be horrible of me to wish her death? What about my husband's too?"

"It would be uncalled for . . ." Kakashi said, a shiver running down his spine. Murder, why did she have to bring up murder? It was the easy way out of her problems to kill them both, but it would damage her more, irreparably. The guilt of the act could be worse for clients at times than for ninjas, even if silent murder was the main part of their job description. Her brown eyes were focused on the fire, seeming to consider both her dark thoughts and his suggestion against it. She huffed in indignation, crossing her arms stubbornly, "Bastard isn't worth it."

The Copy nin smiled for a brief moment then stood up from the chair. This was enough for one night. He bowed and started towards the doors till he heard her move on the chaise then her voice, "Hatake-san? Can I ask you a question?"

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and nodded, "I may not answer though."

Jun's eyes shifted to the floor, "Ever since Hiro left me, I haven't exactly felt like a woman. I keep wondering if . . ."

He knew her question already as she trailed off, a blush across her weathered cheeks. His eye creased at her with a false smile under his mask, "You're still attractive, but it isn't how you look that is the most desirable thing about you. I always have liked determined, intelligent women. He is a fool to waste the heart of a woman such as yourself, but maybe you shouldn't give up on him entirely either. Even fools can be wrong now and then. Good night, Jun-san, and no more wine tonight."

Kakashi didn't stay to see the radiant smile on the woman's face, gone almost as soon as he opened the door.

* * *

He stepped down onto the small balcony, and exhaled slowly before slipping back into the bedroom. Well, that went about as well as he expected. Their client's story was sincere, and her troubles ran as deep as he thought. The meeting also confirmed his suspicions that Jun still loved her husband, which complicated things. This mission was more serious than they assumed, and would require more planning than he thought. He'd have to explain it all to Sakura in the morning, after he figured it out himself first. No, looking at the bed, he knew he wouldn't be sleeping that night.

The kunoichi had rolled over in his absence, taking over both sides of the bed now. She nuzzled the pillow that was once his, the blankets twisted and fallen to her waist. A smile flickered onto his face. He could have tempted fate and tried to reclaim his spot on the bed, but he didn't want to disturb her when it would have been pointless. There was too much to think about for his mind to settle. He pulled the covers back up without her noticing, making sure she wasn't cold through the rest of the night. Stripping back down to his sleepwear, Kakashi walked barefoot from the bedroom to sit down at the table in the small kitchen.

Jun had been thoughtful in the selection of their rooms in the hotel, providing everything they'd need to live comfortably for one month including food. He eyed the cold pot of tea left on the table and the two empty cups then stood up again to take them to the sink. Listening to the water run as he cleaned, the ninja's thoughts flowed in a stream over the night. How could he stupidly say that to the woman, giving her hope when he shouldn't have even cared? This was a job like the others, not a personal crusade to save a fractured marriage for a rich woman. Why did he care at all? This wasn't one of the missions that deserved personal investment.

Despite how much he protested against heroics, Sakura still had a way of persuading him to intervene when situations warranted it. It didn't help that he had a soft spot for acts of kindness and justice as well. It was how they ended up with about thirty unpaid missions, or was it forty? He couldn't remember. The number could have been as high as sixty, maybe. Perhaps he cared a little too much sometimes, but why now? What was it about this mission that tugged at him? The more Kakashi asked himself that question, the more he didn't like the answer.

Jun's sob story hadn't affected him that much, but everything she didn't say in her outburst hit like a ton of bricks. Love nearly destroyed her and still crushed her, but she carried on. It made him think back to Sakura, the only woman at the moment he could compare their client to. There were times when she was younger that he thought her love for the Uchiha would crush her too through all the ups and downs, betrayals and reunions. Her failed relationships first with Naruto and then Lee also seemed like they would crush her heart forever. Yet, when it all boiled down, the young woman with the strawberry pink hair took the rejections in the end and carried on, which made him respect her resiliency. The end of love wasn't easy to take. She was so unlike . . .

Kakashi's mind turned again to another woman once in his life, Rin.

When was the last time he thought about her? Stupid question, he always thought of her and Obito each time he went to the memorial. When was the last time he thought about her heart? The answer to that question was far more difficult. He hadn't really given thought to that aspect of Rin since she died. In truth, the girl he knew died the same day as his best friend, or at least her heart did. Obito's death didn't crush her, but knowledge of his love had. Coupled with her guilt over both her responsibility and her blind ignorance of Obito's feelings to chase after him instead, love destroyed her. He couldn't have predicted her death after she distanced herself from him. Who would have thought she would drown on a mission saving one of her teammates? He hadn't. Love had killed Rin.

Kakashi nearly dropped one of the tea cups as his thoughts delved into something he didn't want to touch.

It was time he was honest with himself. The very thought of love scared him. What happened to Rin stayed with him as the perfect reason to avoid such a deep emotion altogether. Jun's example further cemented his opinion that love wasn't for him, but . . . at the same time, it seemed to give the woman a will to fight back. Maybe that was why he did care about this mission, why he wanted to succeed for her. He always was a sucker for determined, intelligent women, like his partner. Sakura popping up in his thoughts wiped all of them clean, just like the china in the sink. Kakashi frowned, tossing the rag away.

His feet grew a mind of their own, leading him out of the kitchen and back into the bedroom. The kunoichi had completely taken over his side of the bed, snuggling his pillow as she snored lightly. Again, the blankets had fallen to her waist. Maybe he wasn't completely honest with himself either when he said everything felt for her was out of friendship. Just friendship didn't quite seem to cover it anymore, but could it be love?

That was one thought he didn't allow himself to think, burying it deep in his heart. Love, it was such a hard thing to describe sometimes to someone else, but between two people it was an unspoken unanimous bond.

Kakashi smirked, and quickly turned back towards the kitchen. He had a lot of writing to do. Underneath the underneath, this mission of revenge and love wasn't as shallow as he led himself to believe.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 3 of Dirty Deeds, Observance. 


	3. Observance

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 3 – Observance

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever, if you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: See Part 1.

* * *

The sunlight spilling through the bedroom windows nearly blinded Sakura as her eyes squinted. It was much too early to be awake even if the clock on the nightstand said otherwise. She groaned and rolled away from the light, pulling the covers over her head. Just five more minutes then she'd get up. Yup, that was a sound plan . . . but when her hand swept across the bed for a body that wasn't there, she bolted upright, "Kakashi."

Her eyes focused, finding the room empty except for some of his clothing thrown over a chair. Sakura sighed in relief at the sight of his coat and boots. At least he hadn't decided to step outside. She threw back the covers and crawled to the edge of the bed, stretching her back before standing up. The shower wasn't running, which meant he wasn't in there either. Curious, she padded through the empty living room towards the kitchen, stopping in the doorway at what she saw. Sure enough, she found Kakashi, but not exactly how she expected to find him. The Copy nin sat slumped over the table, snoring lightly while using a notebook and his arms for a pillow. It took much effort on her part to keep from laughing, grinning instead. Well, it was what he got for staying up all night. At least she hadn't found him passed out with Icha Icha in his hands like usual.

The smile on her face turned into a mischievous grin as she crept forward, noticing how the mask had slipped down in the night to just cover his lips. Playfully, the back of her finger nudged the outer ridge of his ear lightly before pulling away. He flinched in his sleep, and tried to brush the annoyance away, smacking the side of his face instead. She giggled as he growled, burying his uncovered eye in the bend of his elbow. Apparently, he wanted to remain asleep, even if he looked terribly uncomfortable like that. Then again, it had to beat the time they slept in trees to avoid a pack of wolves. The need to wake him nagged at her though. If Kakashi stayed up all night, it usually wasn't without a purpose. Should she be worried? Probably not given their mission. If it was important, he would have woken her up last night to join him. He liked to be secretive over little things, keeping her on her toes. It was just the way he was, just like how he got to the point when it mattered most.

She sighed, letting her annoyance and worry slip away. When Kakashi was awake and she was dressed, then she could question him about last night. Leaving him be, Sakura turned and walked back towards the bedroom.

* * *

When Genma thought about all the other times he'd woken up in the same bed as a beautiful woman, none of them compared to that morning . . . when it came to aggravation. He bristled over that thought, elbowing one of the many pillows stuck between him and the blonde. "Fucking perfect . . ." he muttered, wide awake ever since the wall had been erected between them an hour ago at the crack of dawn.

"Shut up. This isn't comfortable for me either," Ino complained, elbowing the pillow back in return, "It was for your own good."

"It's a natural occurrence, sweetheart. It's not like I can help it."

"You could have pointed 'it' away from me."

"I don't even remember rolling over!"

"We are not arguing over this again. I just want another ten minutes of silence so I can fall asleep again, and forget you exist," Ino said before he felt the bed shifting, knowing she had rolled over.

He had the same sentiments exactly. Genma moved onto his back, crossing his arms over his bare chest. Fate was somewhere cackling at him for giving him morning wood, and the misfortune of waking up wrapped around a woman who didn't like that sort of attention. The side of his face felt numb still from the impact of her fist. At least she didn't hit lower. His subconscious must have been trying to get him killed. There was no other explanation for it. Hadn't he planned last night to avoid the blonde's wrath? He thought he had, but it seemed his hands and body had a mind of their own.

This was an accident, a slip up, nothing else, just an accident . . .

But the breast his hand had fallen on in the middle of the night felt kind of nice.

With just that admission, his resolve crumbled, slightly.

"Shit," the brown-haired ninja cursed, beating a pillow against his head before using it to smother his yell of frustration. Unfortunately, the feathers didn't stop the sound completely. Ino sprung up in the bed and grabbed her own pillow, flaying him with it, "Would you shut up?! I swear if you don't let me sleep I'll kill you!"

The sudden onslaught jolted Genma out of the bed. He hit the floor on his back hard, taking the covers and an avalanche of pillows with him. Groaning, he stuck his head up to see the blonde kunoichi looming over him, her down-filled weapon poised overhead to be chucked in his face. In a moment, her blue eyes locked with his brown pair. The pillow fell from her hands as her eyes softened with a pitying look. She smiled at him slightly, like he was the most foolish thing in existence. It annoyed the shit out of him. Genma sagged, hunched over and scowling as he muttered, "Why'd you stop? Can't kick my ass anymore?"

She snorted, and quickly turned away, getting off the bed, "You're not worth it."

Genma frowned as she grabbed a set of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. For some reason, his eyes hadn't risen higher than her ass, drawn there on her figure. As soon as Ino disappeared, he grabbed one of the fallen pillows and swung in at his face, groaning in agony.

Fate, it seemed, was getting a kick out of torturing him.

* * *

He must have been dreaming, or dead and in heaven, too peacefully content to be stuck in reality. That would explain why he no longer felt his hands or feet. But if he was in heaven, why did it smell like fried eggs? Kakashi sniffed the air again. His nose wasn't deceiving him, shoving the fog of sleep out of his head. "Food," the ninja groaned, wincing as he finally lifted his head in the bright light, "Ugh, too early."

"Good morning," said a cheery feminine voice that he couldn't see, too busy wiping his eye and fixing his mask, "You could have pulled out a bedroll if I disturbed you that much, but you've never had that sort of problem before. There's no excuse to be sleeping at the table . . . unless you were up to something."

Kakashi's hand fell away, and his dark eye focused on the back of his partner and the wet-looking pink braid that swayed as she moved around the stove. Sakura was already dressed for the day, her usual yukata and obi replaced with a wrap shirt of cream-colored cotton and brown pants tucked into her black tall boots. He sat there in silence, blinking as his mind fumbled over her words. It didn't fully hit the Copy nin that he'd fallen asleep at the kitchen table till he sat back in the chair and looked down at the notebook in his hands. No wonder his neck felt like it would snap in half if he turned his head too quick. He groaned, rubbing one of the sore spots, "How long was I out?"

"You were like that when I found you this morning, about an hour ago, maybe three hours or less total. Why did you stay up last night?" Sakura asked as she moved a pan off of the heat, setting it down by two plates. He could hear her scraping out what smelled like eggs, and his stomach rumbled. It took much effort on his part not to drool while answering, "I had someone to visit to clarify a few things then wrote up some ideas. I didn't want to disturb you. Why did you cook?"

She walked over to the table, putting the plate before him of omelets and rice. After moving back to the stove quickly, Sakura returned with a tea pot and two cups, talking while she poured, "Because I knew you were in no condition to go anywhere to eat right away. I can just feel a long discussion coming on too."

"Ah, you are correct. It will be a long discussion . . . or would you rather read what I've been up to?" he asked, dangling the notebook in front of her green eyes.

The tea pot clattered on the table as she put it down too quickly. Grabbing it from his fingers, Sakura slid into the chair across from him, ignoring her own food to start reading. She had to credit Kakashi over the years for having more legible handwriting than Naruto even if it wasn't fluid, beautiful script like Sai's. His writing on mission reports also wasn't as dry as Sasuske's, who made even the most spectacular battle about as dull to read as genin jobs. Usually the Copy nin omitted the irrelevant things, getting right to the point, yet somehow, he'd managed to fill five pages. For him to write that much in just notes, he must have uncovered something right?

Watching her devour his work, the silver-haired man slipped down his mask and ate, stopping when she finally put down the pages to take up her chopsticks. "So?" he asked, holding the tea cup in front of his face like a shield.

"Well, that explains the money. I feel better knowing that."

"And . . ."

He was fishing for a response from her, and she could feel the strings attached to the bait. Sakura wiggled nervously in the chair, her doubts making her forehead scrunch together in worry. What she had read wasn't what she expected from him at all. As much as her inner self loved to believe the little discovery he'd come up with about their client and victim, her ever-practical side found great big holes into his theory begging to be punched into oblivion. She wanted to believe him, but . . .

In the end, not taking shots was too big of a temptation to resist, "How can you honestly think she's still in love with him? The way Jun-san explained her situation; you would think she'd be better off if we put an end to his existence permanently. You even mentioned that she seemed to consider changing our objective to killing both him and the other woman."

"She was also drunk, but still lucid. And in the end she rejected the idea too."

"Like you said, she was drunk. All the more reason to take her words last night at face value. She obviously wasn't thinking straight about anything."

"And ignore the state I found her in, in the first place? If she didn't care about Hiro, why was she drinking herself silly last night about six months after the fact?"

"Because he's a horrible bastard that is about to be given her family's company on a silver platter yet didn't earn it?"

"She didn't have to fight for it either to start."

"Which is silly, and it's a point I don't get about all this. Why does it matter so much if she's so rich anyway? She'll still keep a stake in her family's company even if she isn't controlling it."

"Pride."

"Pride . . ." Sakura repeated, wondering over that one word before sighing, "Still, it just seems silly to me. Why are we even discussing this like it matters, or even acting like we care? Both of these people on paper are just two rich, spoiled individuals who are finally forced to work to keep their lifestyles. Jun-san is just smarter than he is for hiring outside help. Really, how can you care about what happens to them except when it comes to our paycheck?"

For a moment, the callousness in her voice made his fist tighten over the tea cup, "Sakura . . ."

She blinked. Obviously, for some reason, Kakashi did care.

Her mouth snapped shut as she slowly looked down at the table. She hadn't exactly meant it like that, but then again, she did mean most of it. After sleeping on the story last night, the reasoning behind all this did seem just a tad bit shallow to her compared to some of their previous missions. It wasn't like they didn't have seemingly pointless missions before, but they never cared about them, at least not that much. Despite the many rules against it, no ninja was entirely an emotionless stone. The very good ones either kept it to themselves or acted it out without caring what they looked like.

But that still didn't help her thoughts on why she should care about the Minagawas' marriage and happiness.

Sakura couldn't understand why control of the trading company mattered to a woman that had so much already. Maybe it was because her family was never rich. There really wasn't much of anything to be passed on to her if and when her parents died. The Haruno name would die with her too, eventually, so what did it matter anyway? Understanding familial pride was beyond Sakura, and she knew it. It was part of why she could never understand Sasuke completely and why the rest of the clans of Konoha mystified her. How could Kakashi expect her to care when the concept of legacy eluded her? Maybe that wasn't even what made him sympathized with their client either.

But, there was something she could relate to if all the reasoning did come down to a matter of pride. Feminine pride was something Sakura was all too familiar with. Hell had no fury like a woman scorned after all. She hadn't meant to seem so entirely unsympathetic when that part of Jun's story tugged at her heart the more she thought about it.

Pained, her green eyes slid closed, "Underneath the underneath, I know . . . I know."

She tentatively looked up again, locking eyes with his. A flicker of silent communication passed through them both before she spoke again, "You have your own reasons for caring, and I probably shouldn't have said that, but . . ."

Her voice trailing off made him a slight bit curious, "Spill it."

"Aren't you being a bit, well, romantic about this situation?" Sakura asked, the worry lightening a moment to turn into an amused smile, "Youthful idealism isn't your realm of expertise. It doesn't suit you."

The image of a certain green-leotard loving idiot popped into their heads at the same time, making the kunoichi grin while her partner scowled.

"That's the first time anyone's ever accused me of that," Kakashi smirked, pulling his mask back up and putting the cup down, "I'm not being anything but practical and honest about our client's hidden desires in my assessment. What I saw of her behavior doesn't add up any other way. She acted too lonely to have moved on from him, and too troubled to be convincing in her hatred of her husband. All her anger was concentrated on the mistress, who seems to have been the final straw to their marriage."

"That's it? That's all the reasons you have?"

"There is the ring too. If she truly hated him, she would have taken that ring off long ago."

She frowned, sinking into the chair a little more. He had a point, even if it was just a wedding ring. If the marriage was over in Jun's eyes, like she claimed, then it logically would have been the first thing she would have disposed of, "It's just a piece of jewelry. Maybe she doesn't even recognize she's still wearing it . . ."

"Sakura . . ."

"Ok, I see your point, but why does it matter?"

"If I'm right, then this might make it easier to solve her situation."

"I doubt trying to make them reconcile will make things any easier unless he's still in love with her too. All indications are that he's a selfish prick."

"Underneath the-."

"I heard you the first twenty times you've repeated it over the years . . ." Sakura muttered as her lips quirked to the side in a worried frown, nibbling thoughtfully on a piece of egg. He did have a convincing argument. Why was he always so right? She'd probably be eating all her words later, but . . . "This is only one side of the whole story. We should be looking into the husband and his lover before we move out to trash them both."

Kakashi's eye creased while grinning at her, "That's exactly what I have in mind."

She smirked back at him, "Where do we start?"

* * *

"They're leaving," Genma said as he sat in a chair before the window, binoculars in one hand and a half-eaten onigiri in the other. Seeing two ninjas spring off the balcony in separate directions would have been quite a sight to someone that wasn't used to it. But to other ninjas, making big leaps off of buildings were more natural exits than doors. It was a good thing that people rarely looked up at the sky in a city this big. He took another bite of the stuffed rice ball then turned towards the blonde, "Going to move in now or later?"

Ino looked up from the small loaf of half-eaten melon bread in her hand, chewing thoughtfully. The wrapper was crumpled in the other fist while the remaining trash of their quick, cheap breakfast littered the floor. She gulped down the mouthful, "As soon as I'm done eating I'll go . . . I don't get it. How can they be so late for everything around Konoha, but on a mission they're early for even crawling out of bed?"

"All work, no play. Those two take this job way too seriously."

"What do you know about work? Last I checked you were still just an exam proctor. I've been on more missions than you by now," Ino said with a smirk, turning back to her bread, "Besides, this is a serious job; kind of hard to escape that reality too."

Genma grumbled, ignoring the remarks for a moment to take another bite of food. She did have a point, kind of, even if it nearly killed him to admit it. All he had been doing for the past two years was the chuunin exam with the occasional mission, much like this one. Maybe his perception on work and play really were skewed. He shook his head, banishing that thought as quickly as it sprung up. Damnit, why did this woman keep messing with his head, like her single, driving purpose in life was to get under his skin?! All she had to do was just say something and it annoyed the shit out of him if it didn't make him think. It worked rather too well for the ninja's liking. No wonder she drove Asuma and Old Nara's kid crazy with just a few nagging words. Glaring over his shoulder at Ino, she didn't notice him looking at her at all while munching away.

She was kind of sharp . . . for a blonde anyway.

* * *

Sakura rubbed her gloved hands together, warming them as best she could in the freezing cold. Even pulling the cloak tighter around her body didn't seem to help keep out the biting winds. Of course the day had to be beautiful but chillier than an icebox. It couldn't just happen to be overcast yet unseasonably warm for one day. Scowling, Sakura walked on, stepping over a crushed pile of snow. This was pointless. She never should have listened to Kakashi when he said to observe them. Three hours of tailing the mistress, Takara, hadn't taught Sakura anything except how much money the woman had to spend, which was a lot, and how hideous her fashion sense was, which was awful. If she could afford clothes that existed for the sole purpose of being beautiful, she could at least buy ones that covered more.

She kept pace at about thirty feet behind the woman, who was easily noticeable from the crowds by not only the white fur coat she wore but also the sheer amount of male heads turning in her direction. Sakura's scowl deepened as she turned another corner, nearly tripping over another man that stepped in her path. If the kunoichi didn't hate her before for being a man-stealing tramp, she really hated her now for being stunningly gorgeous too. Even if Takara bore something of a resemblance to Ino, her friend never attracted this much attention walking around Konoha. Her hair was a rich gold and her skin tanned like she'd been dipped in bronze, colors that seemed out of place in such a cold city. She exaggerated the way she walked as well, making the most of the curves of her body, which were considerably more dramatic. It was sickening watching this woman for so long, as if she knew she was on display in a shop waiting to be bought.

Then again, Takara technically was a bought woman given everything she'd seen today.

Her inner voice raged, imagining the blonde falling on her face if she kept walking like that in such high heels. At least Kakashi wasn't there to scold her for looking at their target with obvious ill-intent, not like she could help it. Compared to Takara, Sakura was short in stature, miniscule in proportion, and cow-faced. What woman wouldn't feel inferior and jealous standing next to her? Her scowl changed into a sad frown. No wonder Jun lost her husband so easily. Really, what man could resist natural beauty when it threw itself in their laps? She doubted even the Copy nin could remain a block of ice for long with one look of Takara's warm brown eyes.

That thought made Sakura's heart clench, but the pain went quickly away as she saw the woman in white turn to enter an apartment building. Her feet stopped as she got a good look at the address chiseled into the stone exterior, "Shit . . ."

She was right outside the home of one Minagawa Hiro, Jun's husband and the man Kakashi was following that day, which meant he was somewhere around the building too. Barely ten seconds had passed when a hand touched her shoulder, but Sakura didn't jump at the familiar trace of chakra. The silver-haired ninja stood over her, looking up at the building as well. He was dressed the same as the day before, the red scarf slipped down low enough that she could almost see his lips. She smirked, just knowing there was a cocky grin there as his eye creased at her. "Funny running into you here," he asked, sounding very amused, "Standing long?"

"I've been standing for the past three hours or more. I can't even feel my toes anymore. I don't know how Takara did it, but if I shopped like her, I'd be exhausted after just one hour," Sakura said bitterly, frowning, "Jun-san's assessment of her being a gold digger was right. She doesn't work that's for sure, given that she's been shopping all day it seems. The home address I found is to a box in another apartment building only, and everything she bought today was paid for by a credit card. After stealing one of the signed recites, I found that the name on the card wasn't hers or Hiro's. Plus, all the purchases she had sent to another address."

"Who's our third party with the card?"

"Yamamoto Shinjiro."

"Yamamoto Industrial Group? He's their vice president. The address?"

Sakura blinked but answered anyway, "1-13-1 Lotus Circle. I already checked it out when not watching her, really nice house, two maids, and-."

"And also home of Nakamura Nobu? Financial officer of Redwright Coastal Shipping?"

"Yeah, I read that name on the mail . . . how in the hell did you know that?" she asked, her brow furrowed while staring.

Kakashi didn't look much happier than she did, his eye drooping again, ". . . This is an experienced woman we're dealing with. Jun-san was wrong. Takara isn't as vapid as she thinks."

Sakura smirked, "She's a professional mistress?"

"Is that what you think?" he asked, eyebrow arching upwards before he turned away, muttering thoughtfully, "We should go get some box seats for this performance."

She blinked again, "You haven't even answered my question yet. How can you expect me to answer yours?"

"What was the question again?"

"How did you know those names? How did you know that address?" she growled, gritting her teeth to keep from yelling at him in frustration.

"Oh, that . . . Later."

Her green eyes rolled upwards, "Later, right. Why didn't I think of that?"

Ignoring her sarcasm, Kakashi wandered off towards the side of the building. Soon enough, Sakura caught on and sprinted to catch up as he went down an alleyway. The kunoichi wasn't surprised at all to find him jumping off the fire escape railings as soon as she turned the corner, making his way towards the roof. Given little choice, she followed him up. While she didn't make it look as effortless on the ascent, Sakura stayed right behind him. She touched down on the façade edging, bending slightly as her knees absorbed the landing, "Is this necessary anymore? I spent most of the day watching that woman. I don't think we're going to find anything else of importance while watching them . . . together."

The blush that spread over her face refused to disappear with the cold winds.

His head turned towards her briefly before jumping to the next building over without comment. Obviously, he wasn't up for a discussion right now. Sighing, Sakura followed, coming to a stop about three buildings away when Kakashi crouched down on the snow covered ledge. He motioned her down as his eye stayed focused on the building they had been standing in front of. She sat next to him, her feet dangling over the rooftop while scanning the windows for their targets. He still wasn't talking. "Did you learn anything about the husband?" she asked, changing the topic.

"Plenty," he muttered then pointed towards one window in particular, "Two floors up. I found it earlier."

Sakura squinted, watching the two figures move around the apartment even if it was kind of blurry at that distance. It wasn't until she looked over to see Kakashi using a small telescope that it occurred to her that she had put a small pair of binoculars in one of her cloak pockets along with her usual tools, and forgot about them completely. She lifted her hand, striking the flat of her palm into her forehead as she groaned. Why didn't she think of it sooner? It was certainly better than squinting. Pulling binoculars out from under the cloak, she held them up to her eyes and found the window again. Blushing slightly, she pulled them back down again, "We shouldn't be watching this. In fact, we should be comparing notes instead. I already told you what I found."

Kakashi's head whipped towards her, blinking, "Sakura-chan, are you embarrassed?"

"Gee, well, unlike you, I don't get off on watching other people having sex, especially when we could be doing something else important."

His eye dangerously narrowed on her, "I'll ignore the remark because I'm your friend and partner . . ." his hard gaze softened to sympathy before smiling cheerfully false, eye creased, "Really? Are you embarrassed? You can tell me."

The sincerity in his voice only made her cheeks flame more, "Kakashi, I am not embarrassed, I am frustrated, ok?! I'm cold, slightly hungry, and more than annoyed with the woman you sent me to follow. You're also annoying me by being you! Can you please not be a pervert or a smartass for a moment and answer me?!"

He smirked, looking back through the telescope. She was embarrassed. He just knew it even if she denied it. This wasn't the first time they spied on two people getting enjoyment out of each other, just the first time they were at a safe enough distance to discuss it without getting caught. Sakura had been embarrassed the first time they had to endure being unsuspecting voyeurs, especially since they were stuck together on a cramped section of ceiling rafters. All she did was blush and close her eyes, waiting it out. The kunoichi, then only eighteen, remained red-faced the rest of that particular mission, which amused him to no end every time he thought about it. She still blushed now and then, even if it rarely turned into raging red ever again. You'd think after three years of dealing with him and everything else that she would have been over it by now. That apparently wasn't the case as she seethed beside him, the annoyed hum in her voice growing steadily.

He tried not to frown in disappointment, "I know the names because part of that particular ANBU mission I had here was to collect profiles on all the big men of the companies in Snowfall before killing someone threatening to bring the city under a daimyo's control."

"So that's how you knew all about this city's power structure when I asked the other day . . . Apparently some things never change then."

"No, they don't, but in the case of Snowfall, that's a good thing," Kakashi said, falling silent as he went back to his peeping. He didn't remain quiet for long, grinning to himself under the scarf, "Icha Icha Paradise volume three page two hundred and twenty, classic. That woman is good . . ."

Sakura couldn't help but look, regretting it as soon as her eyes took in the sight of the couple bent over a table. She sniffed, her nose crinkled in distaste, "I suppose so if you like tall, beautiful women with blonde hair, tanned skin, big boobs, tacky taste in clothes, money-grubbing habits, and a dirty mind apparently."

"Not my type anyway," he muttered, "Doesn't take out the enjoyment though."

"So . . . you don't like her?"

Kakashi's eye pulled away from the telescope as her question filtered through his mind. 'Did he not like this woman?' What kind of question was that? Didn't he just say she wasn't his type? Then again he didn't really have too much of a type after avoiding women for ten years. She knew that as well as he did. Why would she ask such a thing? As soon as he asked himself that question, an answer popped into his head. Perhaps Sakura was just a tad jealous of Takara. The thought made him want to burst out laughing which he beat down into submission. Laughing at Sakura wasn't an option, not when she was in punching distance, even if the idea of her being jealous was funny as hell. Why would she be jealous? Ok, that was obvious. Hiro's mistress was a knockout, yet that didn't account for why his opinion mattered to her. Why would she be jealous enough to ask for his opinion on the woman?

His internal laughter stopped at that question.

Was Sakura jealous over what he thought because she didn't like his attention on another woman? As soon as that idea crossed his mind, he killed it. No, that was not possible at all, deluded and foolish for even thinking that she would think that. They were just friends, and would remain that way. Though, the thought didn't make it any easier to answer the question she posed to him. "If I did like her appearance, would it matter?" Kakashi asked rhetorically before continuing, "I wouldn't be distracted by her, no matter how much she smiled or batted her eyelashes. What kind of ninja do you take me for?"

A radiant smile passed over the pink-haired young woman's face, and something in the ninja's mind screamed at him that he'd just lied through his teeth. One of the cherry blossom's smiles was more than enough to clear his mind. Takara, who? Peeling his eye away from her, he looked back through the telescope, ignoring her even as she shifted closer to him. He tried very hard to forget about Sakura entirely till she spoke again, "Probably doesn't help your opinion of her that she'd sleeping with three men at the same time, huh?"

"And the fact that I'm too poor to afford her. That does sort of kill any desire. I'd like to think my disarming good looks would be enough for any woman."

"You wear a mask all the time, or otherwise find some way to keep your disarming good looks covered. How would I know?"

"You have a point there . . ." he said with a frown before smirking wryly, "It's so hard looking good sometimes."

"At least you're probably in her age bracket, old," she said with a giggle, looking through the binoculars again. Kakashi glared at her, frowning again. Great, even she thought he was ancient, or teasing him, which seemed all the more likely. Grumbling, he sat down finally, no longer crouching, "Old isn't so bad, just means I have more experience. And I'm not that old remember . . ."

Sakura giggled again, not taking her eyes away from the binoculars, "Hiro-san must be more experienced than you then. I think that was number two."

Ignoring the cutting remark to his ego, Kakashi looked again too then snorted in a chuckle, "She's faking it."

She blinked at him, "How do you know?"

"It's so obvious, she isn't shaking nearly enough and too controlled . . . couldn't you tell?"

For a moment, the kunoichi's green eyes looked alarmed, widening slightly, before she turned away, standing back up, "Of course I could. I just wanted to see if you knew what one looked like or not. You are out of practice with first hand experience after all."

Kakashi watched her carefully as she walked across the rooftop slowly, letting the words sink in. Again with the insults, but this time she didn't mean it. The jab was meant to get to him so that he'd ignore the rest of her lie. It worked on Naruto so easily after all when you needed to lie to him, but it didn't work on the ninja at all. He didn't say anything even if his curiosity begged to know why she would lie to him over something as inconsequential as sex.

Before his mind could pick up on the topic of Sakura and sex, he shoved it aside and stood up to follow her. That was another area of his relationship with the young woman he wasn't going to touch, ever, burying it again with the same thoughts he had last night. Love, sex, it didn't matter, or so he thought.

She was his closest friend in many years, and that was more than enough. Right?

* * *

Ino walked along the thirtieth or so floor of the hotel, humming to herself. There was something about cities that made her love them to no end, possibly because they were a veritable shinobi's playground. People were everywhere, making it easy to blend in and get lost. Information was so easy to obtain as well. It flowed out of people's mouths with just some talking, or was shuffled off and filed in pages upon pages of pieces of paper that no one looked at more than once. Finding the room number Kakashi and Sakura stayed in was too easy after finding the floor number. Who knew the city planners required blueprints of each building in town and kept their files open to the public? Getting up to their room took no effort at all since there was no security anywhere in the hotel to stop her. The desk clerks even pointed her towards the elevators.

The only tricky part was finding a maid on that particular floor with an access card to all the guest rooms. She had walked from one end of the hallway to the other without seeing one housekeeping cart or one maid. Not even someone with room service trays, though that wouldn't have helped her either. Ino slumped into an armchair placed in the small lobby before the elevators and staircase to the other floors. Perfect. The maids' couldn't have already done this floor, could they? Starting the fret, the blonde almost gave up hope until one of the elevator doors opened, a massive trolley rumbling out and into the corridor. The black and grey uniform of the woman pushing the cart along was unmistakable.

She smiled pleasantly as the woman passed her, and nodded. Unbeknownst to the maid, Ino slipped her hand into her coat pocket, grabbing one of the miniature microphones hidden there. Maybe her luck was looking up after all.

Genma grumbled and rolled the toothpick in his mouth as he watched the hotel window again. The dark-haired maid had entered Kakashi and Sakura's little suite a few minutes ago, and appeared to be going about cleaning the place as normal. He never should have let Ino go on her own no matter how great she said her clan's spying techniques were. The two ninjas' weren't there to see them breaking in, and probably would be back for hours yet. It would have taken him all of ten minutes to hop over there, crack open the glass doors, plant the bugs, clean up, and hop back, but no, she insisted on doing it her way. Why had he agreed to let her do this single-handedly again? He couldn't remember at the moment exactly what she said, only that she had batted those big, baby blue eyes of hers at him and pouted a little at first. When it didn't work, she then nagged him till he caved like a deck of cards.

Caving had been worth it to stop her voice until it came down to the fact that she hadn't succeeded yet. Genma shifted impatiently in the chair, tapping his foot as the maid made the bed, "What the hell is taking so long?"

He had just about to given up all hope as the maid moved towards the door when she stopped and looked around. She walked towards a cabinet that stood between the kitchen and the living room, slipping something from an apron pocket to place behind the piece of furniture. Genma blinked, "No way . . ."

The maid moved into the bed room, placing a similar object behind one of the nightstands. Finished, she turned back towards the windows and waved at him. "No fucking way, how in the-?" He cursed, cutting off his own words as the maid's hand moved in a very rude gesture before skipping towards the door.

The ninja smirked then grinned, ". . . The girl has talent after all."

* * *

After spending who knew how many hours out in the freezing cold of Snowfall, the two ninja's finally made it back to their hotel room without being coated in ice. The weather had turned rather nasty that late afternoon, almost as soon as they stepped away from watching their targets to get a bite to eat. As soon as the icy rain started to fall from sky to freeze all over everything, the arguing over who forgot to check the weather began, degrading into further blaming of supernatural forces conspiring against them. The kunoichi called it karma for being voyeurs while her companion blamed it on bad luck, just like everything else that ever went wrong on their missions.

Sakura tossed her soggy cloak over the back of a chair, very grateful that day for the warm wool velvet and fleece lining, "I still say it was karma. The sky doesn't just open like that on a seemingly perfect yet cold day and dump ice everywhere. We must have angered someone greater than us for this to happen."

"If we angered a god or twenty every time we did something remotely dirty or underhanded on a mission, we would have been killed about fifty times over by now," Kakashi smirked as he place the bag containing their quick dinner on the kitchen table before taking off his own drenched longcoat, "And don't start arguing that it's our good luck keeping us alive this long. Worst things have happened than one little rainstorm."

A bolt of lightning struck across the sky and all the lights in the rooms were snuffed out. She smirked in the dark, "Little, huh?"

The two ninjas looked at each other, eyes silently communicating the same thing before they went in opposite directions from the table without further discussion. Kakashi searched around the dark kitchen, finding some matches and a few empty glass bottles within a few minutes. Not long after, Sakura returned with some candles from their supplies, placing them on the table next to their dinner. She sat down as he held a match to the wicks, lighting three of the candles that he then crammed into the tops of miniature liquor bottles. "Maid forgot to empty the trash," he commented, glancing at her for a moment before sitting down, "At least we don't have to worry about making dinner now."

Kakashi tugged down the red scarf still wrapped around him till she could see all of his face. Sakura's eyes were instantly glued on his features. It was very impolite of her, but she couldn't help it. If he would just keep the mask off more often then maybe her gut reaction to keep looking would fade, eventually. That night though, he didn't seem to care that she stared or not, taking in the all too rare sight of her friend's uncovered face. He was handsome, she had to admit, a fact she kept forgetting thanks to the infuriating mask. The dim light only helped his appearance, smoothing out rough cheeks that she could tell weren't shaven lately. A faint smile crossed her lips then faded when she noticed him passing her the container holding her food. Dang, how long had she been staring? "It was fortunate we decided against cooking then," she almost mumbled, blushing faintly while taking the cartons finally.

Inner Sakura scolded her for being stupid. It's just a face after all, and he was her friend. Friends don't stare at friends. He didn't stare mindlessly at her forehead. Then again, she never stared at Sasuke or any of the other men in her life like that either. She winced as the mental scolding continued, almost oblivious to his comment, "Maybe we aren't so unlucky after all . . ."

She nodded, her attention riveted on her food. If he noticed or cared about her inattentiveness, he didn't say anything. ". . . What do you think?" Kakashi asked suddenly after a moment of silence while opening his container of broiled fish.

Sakura looked up at him curiously, her fingers fiddling with the lid of her soup cup, "Thoughts in general or the mission?"

He dumped the rest of the bag onto the table, and grabbed a pair of chopsticks while sliding another set across to her, "Mission. What you've told me confirms that we're dealing with a professional gold-digger. It'll be hard to get her to drop her prey long enough for him to go back to Jun-san."

"Do you suppose she even likes him? He wasn't particularly handsome from what I saw, though I doubt any man looks good with his pants around his ankles," she quipped, making the ninja choke on a bit of fish as she giggled, "It's true, and you know it. Don't deny it."

"I will not comment, but I will agree. Takara is only attracted to his wallet," Kakashi stopped a moment, looking thoughtfully, "Do you think she knows about Jun-san's father's will?"

Sakura pondered that idea a moment then nodded, "It's possible. It would explain why she attached herself to him in the first place. He is still legally married after all. If it was for her that Hiro left Jun-san, then maybe the woman will disappear if the board doesn't vote in his favor. He could then go back to his wife."

He shook his head, "That's only one outcome, and still dependant on us ruining him first."

She sighed, going back to her soup before laying down the spoon to dig into her carton of rice. They ate in silence, thoughts and minds burning almost as much as the candles on the table. Sakura's chewing slowed down, gulping down the rice when another thought struck her, "Do you think he even knows about these other men?"

"Depends on what kind of woman she is, but I doubt it."

"Why do you think that?"

"From what I've seen and heard of him today, Hiro is a bit too gullible, especially for a high-level businessman," Sakura blinked, waiting for the elaboration that came after Kakashi took another bit of fish, "I chatted up one of his underlings I found by a street vendor, and asked him what kind of boss he had. He said, and I quote, 'Harmless and socially inept, except when given numbers, then he turns into a financial genius.' So . . ."

"Unless he sees it in monetary funds, he'd never know he was being screwed over."

"Literally."

"Well, that's it then. We expose Takara's additional dirty dealing to him, problem solved."

"He won't buy it."

"Why not? It's simple, it works," Sakura asked, pouting slightly.

"It has no impact if we just send him the proof. It'll also give her time to convince him it's just maliciousness or something. He would need uncover it on his own or talk with one of the other men to know the truth. We don't even know if the other men she's fooling with know they're being used. They could already know and are just using her for their pleasure. Besides, even if Hiro breaks with Takara, it doesn't mean he'll go back to his wife. Doesn't mean the board won't still vote for him either."

Sakura pouted, "Doubter. You're making this more complicated than it has to be."

"Perhaps, but we're looking for the best outcome here. Jun-san's happiness equals our paycheck and sound minds of a job well done," Kakashi said as he pointed his chopsticks at her, "The best outcome will be with Jun retaining her position in the company no matter what. The key is the board vote."

"But that doesn't help their relationship problems at all, or deal with the mistress."

"It may. Without Hiro in a position to gain more money and power, Takara may leave him. Besides, one problem at a time, my favorite student, and we can kill a few birds with one stone."

She smirked at another antiquated saying from the Copy Nin, "How exactly would we do this? Profile each board member? The reconnaissance will take months, and we only have weeks."

"I'm sure we'll think of something. Either way, we need to get closer to our target to know anything for sure, before we decide on the best outcome for everyone."

She tilted her head, "We, or you? . . . You want to gain his confidence, don't you? So that he'll tell you his real feelings on his wife and his mistress?"

"Social problems are usually best handled with social solutions."

"And we're doing that how?"

"We are supposed to be troubleshooters directed under Jun-san's control after all. Posing as real employees would gain us more access to what we need to manipulate the situation."

The kunoichi's green eyes shifted sideways in the dark, fretting as soon as he said those words. An undercover mission, why was it always undercover missions that made her nervous? Maybe it was because of the likelihood of them being exposed. It happened often enough, and in more volatile situations than this. Yet, most of those situations weren't this delicate either. Nope, she didn't like this idea of his at all, "I don't know . . . maybe we could plant a few bugs in his office or something. With that many people around watching what we say and do, it's a bit too risky to me. We're shinobi, not office workers. Plus our tags say troubleshooters, what exactly does that mean? What could we possibly do as company employees that would be convincing?"

"Mediation?"

Sakura's face darkened in the candlelight, "The last time we tried to talk our way out of a fix, I had a kunai through my arm and you had a broken ankle before the battle was over."

"We still won."

"Kakashi . . ."

"Alright, we'll have to keep our covers to social settings rather than actual work, for now. I'll visit Jun-san tonight again and talk to her. She may have an idea or two on how to worm our way in."

Why did he have to be so persuasive? Sakura frowned yet nodded anyway, placated, but still uneasy. He didn't notice, going on eating in silence. She looked between the cold soup and rice and her partner for a few minutes, just watching him, and then suddenly pushed the rest of her food away, "You can have it. I lost my appetite."

Slowly, the Copy nin raised his head, looking at her seriously. Something was wrong about her. He could feel it in the tension in the air. Maybe he was jumping into the matter too quickly, which was rather odd. Usually, their roles were reversed, Sakura plunging ahead and getting into the thick of things while he dealt out the damage judiciously and efficiently. She only fought conservatively when they couldn't afford otherwise, and only played it safe when they were really in danger. The kunoichi didn't spooked easily, and when her intuition came to her, trouble came with it, "Sakura, what is it?"

"I know you care about how all this ends, but . . . I don't know. I'm still struggling to find a reason to put my heart into this assignment and not write it off as just another mission. I'm not convinced, not even after the talk we had this morning."

"Would you rather go talk to our client? Maybe two women will come up with better ideas."

"No," Sakura said quickly before her eyes dropped down, "No . . . That's ok. I'll find a reason eventually, I think, till then . . . I'll be fine."

She smiled brightly, trying to reassure him that she was, indeed, fine, but Kakashi could still see right through it. Her uneasiness wormed its way into his head till he found himself smiling back, falsely, just to reassure himself that he was, indeed, fine as well. He took a few more bites of fish before adding, "I'll go when I'm done. Don't wait up for me."

"I'll try not to take up the bed this time," the pink-haired woman said lightly, a more heartfelt yet lop-sided grin on her face.

He grinned back, eye creasing, "Don't worry. If you do that tonight, I'll just shove you out of the way."

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at the crossed look that marred her face, made all the worse as she grumbled, "Maybe you should just sleep on the couch, or at the table, again."

The pout she added was too much, making him drop his chopsticks while chuckling a little louder. Sakura's seriousness broke as well, giggling with a slight snort that she tried to stop, but couldn't. Just like that, the tension in the air dissolved into nothingness. "Smartass," she hissed with giggles, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at once, "I don't think I'll ever understand you."

"Troublesome woman," Kakashi retorted back, smirking as he rose from the table and taking some of the leftovers with him, "I swear my books are easier to read than you sometimes."

He ducked, just in time to avoid the rice carton that sailed over his head.

* * *

The speaker and reciever sat between the two ninjas on the table, lit candles, packets of batteries, and food cartons scattered all over as well. They staring each other, trying to make sense of all the laughter and rambling they'd heard for almost an hour followed now by what sounded like a food fight. Ino spoke first, turning down the volume a little, "Is it me, or do they already sound like they're together, just not, well, together, together?"

"It isn't you. They sound like they've been married too long, but without the sex," Genma said as his eyebrows rose nearly up to the line of his brown hair. Was he shocked that his friend sounded so relaxed? No. On the contrary, he was flabbergasted, "I don't get it. How can one-eye have this sort of interaction with a woman as beautiful as Sakura, and not be messing around with her?"

"It's called being platonic. You should try it," the blonde grinned at him, entirely amused by the situation.

His jaw clenched, biting down on the toothpick till it nearly broke, "But we have to turn that into more, remember? There's absolutely no tension in their relationship. They didn't even really argue about their mission. It's too . . . civil."

She shrugged, "Well, in most cases, this would be a good thing."

"Not for romance, sweetheart. There's no fire, no intensity, no passion there. Damnit, I hate it when I'm right. I knew those two were a pair of ice cubes."

"So then we thaw them out right?"

"If you have an idea on how to convince them that they should be fucking without saying it to their faces, I'm all ears," Genma smirked. Of course, she didn't have the slightest clue, at least not right then. Ino frowned slightly. How could Tsunade expect her to make Sakura fall in love happily? It wasn't like she had any experience on the matter. She gave up on Sasuke, and the one she did love, Shikamaru, didn't realized how she felt. Not to mention she had a rival for him as well, Temari. A pained look crossed her blue eyes as she pushed the remains of her dinner aside, "I'm not hungry, can't think on a full stomach anyway."

The ninja blinked at her, "You ok?"

No, she wasn't 'ok'. She wanted to scream that at him, but she settled for sagging into her chair instead, "Yeah, just thinking . . ."

"Don't give up hope."

Ino's eyes darted up at Genma, looking into them as he tried to smile. Why did he just say that? What did he know about hope anyway? It seemed so random for him act like he was encouraging her. It was too nice of him. This had to be another tactic of his to get into her panties by being nice, didn't it? Slowly, her blue eyes narrowed but he grinned and spoke anyway, not noticing her hardened gaze, "A way always presents itself. We should watch them a few more days, and then think of something. Maybe luck will do the work for us by then."

She was still staring at him, but her eyes had softened. Maybe Genma really was just being nice, for once. The blonde smirked, not really believing him as she stood up to walk across to the bathroom, "Whatever. We'll see what happens tomorrow anyway. It's getting late."

His brown eyes lingered over her till she closed the door. Gone, the ninja clapped a hand over his face, nearly skewering his palm with the toothpick hanging from his mouth. She was messing with his head again. What in the world possessed him to say that? It was so corny, and stupid, and clumsy, and, unlike any other line he'd said to a woman, it was sincere. He was never sincere with women that interested him since every relationship he'd been in ended anyway, eventually.

Something about Ino got to him though, or at least something in the way she looked did. If he had a heart, it would have broken by the look in her eyes when she lied and said she was just thinking. Her thoughts were obviously on something painful. He wanted to hug her tightly to make the look go away, not feed her sentimentality instead. Don't give up hope, what kind of advice was that? He didn't even know what had upset her except perhaps . . . if she really did like old Nara's kid, and well, just . . . damn.

Why couldn't he have realized that sooner? Why didn't he figure it out before the thought of Ino started to tug on his mind? Before his eyes kept drifting over her like he liked looking at her?

Genma cursed to himself, frowning, "Well, damn. I am screwed."

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 4 of Dirty Deeds, In Confidence. 


	4. In Confidence

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 4 – In Confidence

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever, if you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

"No," Kakashi said flatly, refusing to look anywhere but away from the pink-haired kunoichi. Standing directly behind him, Sakura tried not to seethe with anger. He had no right to be saying 'no' now. This whole idea was his fault in the first place after talking with Mrs. Minagawa. After the three days they spent preparing for this night, they were going through with the plan whether he liked it or not. Her eyebrow twitched, almost to the point of wanting to rip it off of him and throw it in the garbage. He couldn't do this to her, not now, and not this stupidly. For all his genius, you'd think he would have figured it out earlier that the plan they had decided on required the removal of certain things. Apparently, he hadn't even thought about that until the last minute. She started to argue, trying to calm down, "We have one hour to get there, and it takes forty-five minutes to drive there! You timed the car yesterday! We don't-"

"I know, but . . . no," he refused once again, and Sakura's knuckles turned bone-white from the fists she made. She exhaled, slowly, calming herself down before she resorted to bodily harm. Besides, taijutsu fights never solved any of their problems since he always won their spars. She wasn't in any condition to take him on, at least not in an evening gown. Sakura frowned, resorting to a secondary tactic: comforting, "Kakashi . . . it can't be that bad. It's just one night. You don't even have to see any of them ever again, except maybe Jun-san of course, but still, is that so bad?"

" . . . Please don't make me?" he almost whined, sounding at least twenty years younger.

It took most of her willpower to fight down the giggles. "You've taken it off before. And I've seen all there is to see, so . . . how can this time be any different?"

"Because I'll be in a room full of people I don't know!" he yelled, nearly turning towards her before quickly staring straight ahead again. "It's . . . exposing."

"Then you should have thought of that beforehand," she muttered, annoyed. The Copy nin didn't move, but from the way he hunched over, she could tell his arms were crossed and that he was scowling. Why did he have to be so stubborn over the removal of some fabric? If he was going to be like this the whole night, she didn't need him coming along. "Fine, I'll handle tonight myself then," Sakura said as she turned away from his back, her high heels sounding on the floor as she walked towards the bedroom door. "I'm sure everything will go well without you."

He flinched. She had to put it like that, didn't she?

Kakashi groaned in defeat and pulled at the cloth, her steps stopping at the sound.

A victorious smile spread across Sakura's face as she turned around in time to see him throw down the mask onto the bed. The silver-haired man faced her, a grim press of his naked lips leaving little doubt that he didn't like this situation at all. "Satisfied?"

She ignored the pissed tone to his question and his furrowed pale eyebrows for the moment to take in his appearance. He looked very handsome for being dressed up, and for being on the verge of scowling. The black tuxedo he wore looked good, and the dark red necktie and vest were a nice touch against the black shirt. Even the eye patch seemed appropriate and not out of place for once. She smiled softly despite herself. It wasn't like his appearance was a surprise or revelation to her, but the reaffirmation that her partner didn't look too shabby when he tried made her smile. The appreciation in her green eyes dimmed down as she walked towards him, gazing at his bare face with all the professional intent of performing a physical.

Her hand reached up to Kakashi's hair, rearranging his silver bangs until they fell more evenly over his head rather than looking like they got knocked over in the wind. The back of her palm then brushed down his cheek, finding his skin a little coarse yet smooth as she nodded in approval. She then placed both hands on his shoulders, brushing the black fabric of the jacket flat before moving slowly around to the back and doing the same. Sakura then gently tugged on the red tie, making the knot a little tighter and straighter. "You're ready."

When she backed away, Kakashi shifted uncomfortably on his feet, resisting the urge to shove his hands in his pockets. "That's easy for you to say . . . I'm certain no one will be looking at me while I'm standing next to you."

She smiled slightly then turned towards the door, pulling up layers of pleated black organza and nude-colored silk to avoid stepping on them. He followed, finding it hard to peel his eye away from the sight of the pink-haired kunoichi in an expensive dress.

Three days ago when Jun mentioned the formal party the company was throwing that night for the launch of a new shipbuilding project, both ninjas decided it was the chance they were looking for. All of the three players involved in the love triangle of a mission were supposed to be there that night, including Hiro and Takara. All of the board members were making appearances as well, cutting the reconnaissance Sakura had feared would take them forever down to one night's work. The night would be practically perfect if the two other wealthy businessmen of Snowfall Takara strung along had attended, but both had declined the invitation.

Somehow, they both suspected the blonde mistress had a hand in making sure no unfortunate appearances or revelations of other suitors interrupted the joyous occasion.

The preparations for the party didn't take too much effort. Their client secured their invitations, and was in on the details of their plan. Everything was bought or, in the case of Sakura's jewelry, borrowed. Their target list and objectives were carefully divided, their lines practiced and rehearsed until the social niceties rolled off their tongues with ease. Of all the tasks, the most time consuming part involved formulating their cover stories to match. He didn't think that personnel evaluators quite explained away the troubleshooter label on the company records, but Jun disagreed. Apparently Minagawa Eastern Trading hired outside help to cut employees often enough that no one would notice them.

Although, any man who did not notice Sakura would have to be blind. He hadn't meant his statement to be an offhand compliment, but as a blatant fact. Intentional or not, all attention would be on her tonight in that gown, despite how it revealed nothing.

From a distance, she appeared nearly naked from the waist up. Of course, the dress was meant to look that way, the flesh-toned silk hugging her figure in a tight, off-the-shoulder bodice. White crystal beads were sewn in a flowing design over suggestive areas while discreetly hiding seams, adding to the illusion of nudity. Wherever the zipper was, Kakashi couldn't see it, and imagined he wouldn't find it unless he actively looked for it. Sheer black fabric adorned with jet beads flowed over top of the trailing skirt, pleated and tucked to look as if it was merely wrapped and clasped to the side of her hips. Sakura's pink hair was coiled and pinned in place before spilling down her back, a twisted strand of black pearls used as decoration while matching earrings hung from her earlobes. She even did her fingernails, an overly feminine and time-consuming ritual he thought she'd given up long ago. It seemed she still remembered how, but had matured enough to let the clear polish speak for itself without added color.

Really, with hair that pink, why did she ever need to add color?

Sakura didn't notice him staring at all, which was a good thing. Over the past few days, Kakashi became of two minds while taking in the young woman's appearance. On the one hand, he was beginning to like looking at her more, perhaps too much. It had gotten to the point that he had memorized every nuance of her turned back since that was the only way he could sneak long glances. On the other hand, he felt the distinct compulsion to wring himself by the neck. What the hell was he doing appreciating the way Sakura looked? She was his friend, nothing else. All his conscious had to do was bring up that point to strike him back to reality, almost. There wasn't anything wrong in the way he looked at her, really. It was just natural appreciation, right? Women liked to be looked at. It was why they put so much effort into their looks in the first place. To not look at a beautiful woman was akin to insulting her, wasn't it?

But if that was true, then why did he feel disgusted with himself even more whenever his eyes lingered on her?

Kakashi's conscious kicked in again, reasoning that he was just making excuses for being a disgusting pervert. A filthy, horrible, no-good, wretched-

Wait, since when did he start insulting himself?

That was a good question. He didn't know, but the constant feuding in his head over the subject of Sakura was starting to worry him.

Besides, that didn't even count as an insult. Kakashi had acknowledged a long time ago that literary porn was merely a coping habit of his; a dirty habit bordering on fanatical obsession, but just a habit nonetheless. He may have been a pervert, but to his infinite relief, Icha Icha still held his interest over the real thing. His partner never approved publicly despite her tolerance and mild acceptance, but, like his stolen looks at that wonderful gown of hers, what she didn't know sometimes couldn't hurt her.

There were things about both of them that were better left unsaid, like how his dirty little book found its way to being tucked safely inside his tuxedo jacket, right next to three pairs of kunai at least. Sakura did not need to know that tonight for her peace of mind and his. She didn't need to know about the spool of wire in his back pocket either. Or that he had shoved his metal-plated gloves into the side pocket of his pants just in case. Or the other set of kunai up both of his cuffs. Or the shuriken in the other side of his jacket.

He smirked, watching yet not watching while Sakura opened her purse quickly to count the number of senbon within. For a brief moment, Kakashi had to wonder where she kept her other weapons in that gown. He couldn't see one decent, modest hiding spot from where he was looking. Luckily, his conscious kicked in again before his curiosity got the better of him.

Some things were better left unasked as well.

Never could be too careful at parties, someone could always spike the punch.

* * *

The ride in the loaned car to Minagawa Jun's family estate not far outside of the city of Snowfall took exactly forty-five minutes. And in that forty-five minutes, the night's events spun in the minds of the two shinobi before their plan had even begun. "Remember, this is only information gathering. One drink only tonight, then discard the others. Don't stay with anyone any longer than you have to. Find out what you need and move on. Don't blow your cover. Don't-" Kakashi lectured until he was interrupted, his voice low and even.

"Don't get distracted, I know," Sakura said back, her tone clipped. "This is not my first time. You gave me this same lecture that one time where-"

"Where you wore that awful purple dress and flirted shamelessly so you could loosen that stupid nobleman's son lips long enough to learn where his father kept that blasted scroll. I think you made that poor boy's birthday all the more special, 'til you knocked him out cold."

"It wasn't like I had a choice. How was I to know he had a genius level IQ and saw through the genjutsu I put on him?"

"Considering how nerdy he looked, it should have been obvious," Kakashi smirked, trying not to grin at the memories. "At least you didn't have to dance with him."

"That would have been a travesty since I don't know how to . . . uh oh," Sakura said, the color draining from her face.

He blinked. "'Uh oh', what's 'uh oh'?"

"I don't know how to dance . . ." Her voice was so small that he barely heard her over the rumble of the car. Kakashi's mouth nearly dropped open in shock, catching himself just in time before he gawked at her. She couldn't dance? They were going to a high-class, formal opening gala, and she couldn't dance? A twist of emotion shot through him, anger that she didn't mention it sooner, guilt that he hadn't thought to ask her either, panic that she was going to fall all over herself before the end of the first dance. Of course, the stoic ninja kept all of his feelings to himself, fixing her with a frank, droopy stare. "Well, this is a complication."

Sakura stared back, her peaceful temper taking a nosedive. "This isn't funny!"

Despite the idle, thoughtful look on Kakashi's face, he had to disagree. The situation was rather quite funny once the shock wore off. "I suppose it does figure that kunoichi don't receive formal dance lessons . . ."

She scowled, hissing at him, "What are we going to do?! I can't refuse to dance all night! I-!"

"Calm down."

Her mouth opened to yell at him again before snapping shut, half-turned on the bench seat. A half-second later, she huffed and slouched back, crossing her arms. Getting herself worked up wasn't going to solve the problem, damnit, and he just had to be right about it. Her heel tapped on the floor nervously instead. Kakashi didn't look at her, seemingly lost in thought as he held a hand under his chin. The car ride dragged on in infuriating silence, each passing moment increasing the worry that Sakura could barely keep down. The tempo in her nervous feet picked up steadily until he suddenly put a hand on her knee, stopping the noise. "That's enough too."

Angrily brushing the hand away, she snapped, "You do have a plan, right?"

"It's not as bad as you'd think."

"Really? Because from here it looks pretty bad."

"No one at these types of things in ever an expert dancers. Dancing is an excuse to look busy while fishing for business information, negotiating deals, and making social arrangements."

"How do you know that? The only time you're ever multi-talented is with a book in hand."

"Sakura . . ." he said threateningly.

It didn't stop the dramatic sigh from escaping the kunoichi's mouth. "I am going fall all over myself, aren't I?"

"You'll do better than most, for a complete amateur."

"How do you know?"

"You're well-coordinated, graceful, not completely without rhythm, and the quickest learner out of all my old students. I'm sure one impromptu lesson for the first dance will be all you need," Kakashi said, nodding sagely before his eye creased at her with a false grin plastered on his face. "Women have it easy when it comes to dancing anyway. All you have to do is follow my lead . . . That could be a problem since you usually don't like to follow my lead."

Her purse whacked across his stomach, knocking all of the humor out of his comment along with the air from his lungs. He flinched, rubbing the pained part of his abdomen while wheezing for breath. "Nice backhand. Do I want to know which dummy you practice that on?"

"Usually I save that move for Sai, keeps him quiet for a while," Sakura grumbled, shifting slightly away from him to look out the car window. Glancing over, he couldn't help but notice the contemplative look in her green eyes, debating his solution no doubt. He remained as impassive as ever, despite internally chuckling to himself. She frowned, focusing more on the snow-covered woods they passed along until she could think clearly. Of course she doubted him over dancing. She always had lingering uneasiness about any part of the ninja she hadn't encountered before, never quite believing him no matter what he said. Four years and he still managed to surprise her. She bit down on a sigh, knowing her trust in him was more placed in his ability to pull a victory out of thin air than in his actual skills.

But . . . her faith in that uncanny ability of his hadn't let either of them down yet.

Ever so slowly, Sakura turned her attention back to Kakashi. Her green eyes were wide in the darkness, a touch of curiosity in her questions. "Do you really think that's all there is to it? I just follow your lead? . . . You really know how to dance? Formal and everything?"

He shrugged, "Well, my tango is a little rusty if you must know."

Sakura's eyebrows shot up. "Tango? When did you ever learn that?"

"A ninja must be prepared for all occasions."

The smug tone in his voice didn't go unnoticed by the kunoichi. He'd never answer that question as long as he lived, one of many she had asked over the years that he always deflected as easily as a poorly aimed kunai. Her chin rose slightly, looking back out the window. "Keep your secrets then. It's your toes I'll be stepping on first . . . You never told me you could dance."

"You never told me you couldn't."

She huffed in indignation, "I can so dance . . . informally."

"All those drunken parties on your birthday do not count as dances," Kakashi informed her, looking out the window as well, "Like the twenty-first blowout where you were drunkenly all over Kiba for one night before dumping him the next morning."

Sakura sputtered at the memory. He just had to bring that one up, didn't he? Why couldn't he let sleeping dogs lie? It was a one night mistake, the last one she had made for almost a year now. But, he still brought it up now and then, as if to remind her how much he knew about all of her mistakes and past indiscretions. Only trouble was he knew that she knew most of his as well. It still didn't stop these arguments from cropping up at inopportune times, like before and during important missions. Kakashi always did have wonderful timing.

A nasty retort rested on the tip of Sakura's tongue, pertaining to the one time he got plastered on Sasuke's twentieth birthday then got tugged across the gardens by Anko before falling into the pond in front of the Uchiha mansion, but she held back. That particular episode would have been too cruel to mention since he didn't remember a damned thing the following morning. All of their friends never said anything about the incident either, especially when the unfortunate kunoichi who fell into the water with him forbade it.

Sakura never told him either despite taking him home that night and doctoring his monstrous hangover following morning. The only time she ever truly hated him was when he got hung over, but then again, she wasn't too pleasant to deal with when she had one too either. Telling him about that snake Anko was too great a punishment for another ribbing over Kiba. Sakura bit the inside of her lip to keep from cursing aloud to herself. Damnit, why did she have to care about Kakashi enough to not have the last word?

Before she could ponder that question, the car made a turn down a long driveway. Nervousness twisted her stomach into tight knots as she took a deep breath and held it before the air came shuddering out of her lungs. No matter what they did, she still always felt that twinge of creeping fear before the start of anything. How Kakashi could always seem so calm, she'd never know. Sakura glanced over at him, and sure enough, his face was as rigid as stone. And yet, for a brief moment, when she reached out to touch his hand, the ninja flinched. Maybe he wasn't as calm and collected no matter what as she always had assumed. Masks did hide a lot after all.

Yet, all of her previous thoughts were forgotten the moment they stepped out of the car in front of the imposing house. This was still a job after all.

Wordlessly, he took her arm just after they had entered the mansion and deposited their winter garb. For a moment, feeling Kakashi's arm looped around her stunned her into a complete standstill. It was only when he pulled her forward, forcing her to walk or trip over her own feet, that Sakura realized she had stopped at all. He glanced over at the pink-haired kunoichi, wondering what had caused her hesitation. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Just fine," she lied, silently praying her cheeks weren't flaming. If he noticed, he chose not to say anything, walking on while holding her arm as if it were the most natural thing in the world. To Sakura, being latched onto the Copy nin was by far the most unnatural thing she had ever felt around him, but she couldn't explain why. She'd never been this nervous before, least of all at something so simple from Kakashi of all people. They were comfortable around each other, weren't they? Yet, the simple act of being on his arm made the kunoichi so self-conscious that she almost wanted to push him away before it jangled her nerves beyond repair. But, she didn't, listening to Inner Sakura instead and her reasoning that it wasn't so bad feeling the back of Kakashi's hand brush her skirt every so often.

She nearly stopped again, this time tripping over her heels. Her cheeks blazed at his low chuckle. "Maybe you should have worn something not quite so tall."

Sakura smiled viciously, hiding her quickly rising temper, except in her voice, "You're just jealous that when I wear high heels, you can't bend down anymore to patronize at me."

"I do not patronize you," Kakashi retorted, almost sounding hurt. "At least not when you act your age."

Her green eyes narrowed angrily for a moment, the fake smile staying in place. "Are you purposefully trying to pick a fight with me, or just being a bastard tonight over the lack of your stupid mask?"

"You started it."

"Childish is more like it. And you accuse me of not acting my age."

"I've never acted my age in my life, permanently stuck somewhere between being fifteen and fifty. I thought you knew that already?"

Of course, she did already know that Kakashi could be as mature or immature as he wanted to be, but that was beside the point. The point was that he was purposefully trying to make her angry. Sakura's smile faltered into almost a frown. "You are being incredibly difficult for being about twenty steps away the point of no return."

"It's thirty steps. Your sense of distance is off."

"You are a bastard. I am stepping on your toes at least once tonight," Sakura growled through her teeth, the edge taken off of her anger by his avoidance.

He had to argue with her now, just when Jun spotted them in the line of guests greeting her. If they weren't in polite, non-violent society, she just might have socked him in the shoulder, not once but twice, for what he said. No, the young woman in the evening gown with the soft pink hair was suddenly all too aware of the eyes on them. She could feel them all crawling along her skin, making her turn her away from Kakashi for a moment to look. The reception hallway was awash in a sea of men in tuxedos and women in somber black gowns in infinite variety. This world seemed as drained of color as it was of cheerfulness. No doubt that was why everyone seemed to be looking at her hair.

Suddenly she wished she had henge-ed it into another color, something suitably dull.

Unconsciously, her grip on the ninja's arm tightened. He noticed the grip and reached across to pat her fingers reassuringly. Then slowly, his hand stopped, resting atop hers. "You look beautiful tonight."

Sakura's head whipped towards her partner so fast that the tail of her long, vividly-colored hair smacked across her face and neck. The shock of the compliment was clear on her face, her mouth dropping open. Did he really mean that? She'd been called beautiful before, but never from Kakashi. The only compliment he ever gave her appearance aside from a few glances was last summer at the festival. He had called her cute before then, but there was something in his tone of voice that went beyond simply being cute, something more serious and vague. She studied his face, noting the set clench of his jaw line. If there was a smile on his lips, it was nearly non-existent to her eyes as he stared straight ahead. He meant it alright, and that knowledge made her cheeks blush again, until he added, "Except for the big forehead, of course."

Her hand gripped his arm tighter until her nails nearly dug into his skin through the jacket and shirt, whispering under her breath, "Bastard."

He chuckled again in spite of the name calling, and looked over at Sakura. It worked. The arguing had made her forget about their closeness while walking together, and the compliment had made her self-awareness of the guests' stares evaporate. It didn't matter if he meant what he said or not so long as it produced the desired results in her. She knew that as well as he did, but even then, he couldn't suppress the grains of truth in his compliment. He shouldn't have used that word, beautiful. Danger and beauty went hand in hand, wielded like any other weapon in one's arsenal. Why else were most kunoichi women of unsurpassable beauty that any man would willingly die for, or hesitate to kill if caught? Sakura was no exception to that rule. She didn't need him to tell her what she already knew. Surely she already knew she was beautiful, right?

Before Kakashi could ponder any more on the matter, he looked up to see Jun smiling at them. "Hatake-san, Haruno-san, welcome. I am glad you both could make it."

They both bowed to the older woman who nodded graciously. She was dressed in black like all the other ladies, but an added sparkle of silver thread ran through the dark silk. The gown was cut in a low V neckline before being fitted at the waist, then flowing into a full, pleated skirt. Long sleeves covered her arms, almost hiding the bracelet on one wrist. It didn't hide the plain platinum band on her left hand. A smile nearly flickered onto Kakashi's face before he squashed it completely. Sakura, though, beamed as she let go of her partner's arm to take their hostess's hand. "Thank you for having us, Jun-san, even if we are a bit new to the area. It is an honor."

"You're welcome, my dear. And I must say you look lovely this evening. I'm so glad the dressmaker I sent you to could come through on such short notice."

The kunoichi's smile turned a touch nervous even as she giggled slightly. He smirked a moment then interrupted, "Not as lovely as yourself, Minagawa-san."

Their client's eyes lit up as she turned to Kakashi, looking intently at his exposed lower face. "It is good to see you as well, Hatake-san, for once."

Sakura nearly burst out laughing at the stunned look on the Copy nin's face, managing to keep it down to a soft giggle. He unconsciously rubbed his chin, looking everywhere but at the brunette, "Well, Sakura-chan insisted I inflict my appearance on everyone. She can be quite troublesome to me when she wants to be."

The laughter in the kunoichi's green eyes stopped, glaring at him instead as he grinned wryly. Jun laughed softly, interrupting the beginnings of another argument between the pair. "Now I can see why you both came so highly recommended. You do work well together. If I didn't know how professional you both were, I'd almost think you were more than just friends."

The ninjas kept their shock off their faces except in their mutual wide-eyed stares. The same thought went through their heads at that moment. No one had ever said that to them in public before; gossiped behind their backs, whispered in private, but never to both of them at once or to their faces. They exchanged glances in the middle of the shock, trying to read what the other was thinking. Their eyes locked, but held nothing but staggered disbelief and silence. No, of course there was nothing there. They were just friends after all. Sakura looked away first, her mouth open to protest, when another couple moved past them on their left.

Whatever she was about to say died in her throat as she recognized the man and the woman on his arm. "Good evening, Jun," the dark-haired man said with a bow as the blonde beside him didn't move at all.

For a moment, her brown eyes softened in recognition until they glanced over at his companion, hardening once again as her voice caught in her throat. "Hiro," she said barely above a whisper before nodding her head while looking away from him. "So good of you to make it."

The two ninjas stood there, taking in the palpitating tension in the air while observing. Up close, Sakura could finally see what Jun had seen in the man she married. There was something about Hiro that set him apart as being uncharismatic, slightly anti-social, and, well, normal for lack of a better term, but still loveably adorable if slightly goofy in a way. He was handsome with his short, black hair, dark brown eyes, and olive complexion, but he was far from perfect. The man wore thick glasses in blackened steel frames, and looked slightly unkempt with a nearly permanent unshaven shade on his jaw. He was also at least three inches shorter than Kakashi, and stood with a noticeable slouch to his shoulder, as if he was carrying some great weight around his neck.

Her eyes shifted over to the blonde, and she idly wondered if it was guilt that had him burdened or the clinging clasp of his lover. Standing next to Takara, Hiro looked nearly insignificant, completely invisible, and even smaller than before. She had seen the woman up close before while tailing her and knew she was beautiful, but all dressed up and this close, the kunoichi once again felt like a mere speck of dust before the radiance of the sun. The blonde had flaunted the apparent rule of black or silver gowns by wearing a floor-length sheath of nude-colored silk covered in golden lace. Even while exposing less skin than Sakura with her high neckline and long sleeves, Takara still managed to look practically naked. The only part of her that didn't belay radiant beauty was her smile, too broad to veil the maliciousness. "Our hostess is impolite for not introducing us to her new friends, it seems."

As soon as the blonde's brown eyes turned towards them, Sakura stiffened, grabbing for Kakashi's arm again. Oddly enough, he didn't move at the pull of her hand, or even say anything. When she looked up at his face, the pink-haired young woman knew why he didn't react and it made her anger burn. He was staring at that tramp like that pervert Jiraiya at his absolute worst. Oh, so Takara wasn't his type, huh? Inner Sakura raged, wanting to grab him by his shoulders and shake his sense of decency back into him. For a moment, she even contemplated kicking the side of his leg when Jun interrupted. "Forgive me. This is Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura, two associates I've hired temporarily to help trim down my personal staff before the next quarterly meeting. I thought it would be prudent to invite them tonight since most of the company is here."

"You never told me," Hiro said as his eyes narrow on his wife, forgetting the blonde on his arm for the moment. "This'll change the budget now. Why didn't you tell me sooner? Then again, it's not like you've ever told me much before."

"You haven't been around much for me to tell you anything," she said, a hint of bitterness in her voice as her eyes briefly looked over at the other woman before turning to the two ninjas, "but I suppose this is a fitting introduction. This is my husband, Hiro, and his . . . companion, Takara-san."

For a moment, Kakashi still stood there taking in the blonde until he felt a pinch on his arm. He looked down at Sakura's green eyes, angry fire dancing in them even as the rest of her face stayed decidedly calm. Shit, she was really pissed, more than he had intended. He nodded to the both of the other couple quickly, ignoring his partner's stare. "Pleased to meet you both. We should let you get back to your guests, Jun-san. Good evening."

Before Sakura could say anything, he was quickly pulling her away and towards the main hall, leaving her to only bob a quick bow before they were gone. As soon as they were outside of their range of hearing, she practically screeched at him under her breath. "What the hell were you thinking?! Not only were you nearly drooling over her, but you retreated rather rudely like a lecherous coward that was caught staring! You're no better than Ero-sennin! You just blew it in front of Jun too, you-!"

Her ranting stopped suddenly when she realized that he'd taken her to the middle of the dance floor. The location didn't help her anger at all, throwing him a disgusted look before turning away and nearly stomping off. Sakura didn't get any further than one step away when Kakashi tugged sharply on her wrist, spinning her not only back towards him but also close enough that she was pressed against him.

Her jade-colored eyes immediately met his, a mixture of anger, surprise, and defiance in their depths. Her look didn't faze him as he stared back with his face and eye remaining neutral even if his mind was in turmoil. For one moment, he'd let impulsiveness take over, and this was the mess it created. All he wanted was to test her jealousy after her question the other day, not throw her into a rage. Now that he stood face to face with the fuming kunoichi, all he could think about was the slight pout of her pink-painted lips.

She stepped back from Kakashi, and his better sense finally kicked in, grabbing her waist in one hand and holding her arm out with the other. "Not so fast. I'm not letting you off this floor until you can dance."

"What does it matter now? We're going to be fired because you couldn't keep your eyeball off that bimbo's boobs!" Sakura hissed at Kakashi, unconsciously taking a step back when he took one closer towards her. "And you lied to me! You said she wasn't your type! You apparently either lied or like things that aren't your type at all! I doubt you even have a type!"

Her free hand, which was on his chest, tried to push him away, but his grip stayed put. He took another step closer and the kunoichi moved in the opposite direction, determined to keep as far away from him as possible if she couldn't escape completely. She was still seething, the pulse in her veins quicker than the gentle flow of the music, but her voice dipped lower into seriousness. "Admit it, I caught you leering."

"This isn't the first time you've seen me appreciate the appearance of opposite sex. Why do you suddenly care?" he asked.

Sakura's feet nearly stopped until his hand on her waist guided her into a side step as he turned. Why did she care? If it had been any other woman he'd been looking at, she wouldn't have given a damn, but why her? "Because that woman only cares about money," she asserted, holding her chin a little higher.

"Do you know that for sure? Maybe she has a wonderful personality to go with the-"

Her foot purposefully stomped forward, trampling his shoe. Kakashi abruptly stopped and winced, biting down a groan at the pain. Ok, he deserved that one, but it told him more than her first answer. The Copy nin grinned regardless, continuing to dance as if she hadn't just stepped on his toes. "So you do care . . ."

"I do not," Sakura growled, keeping up with him well. "We both know what she's after, and yet you still ogled her like a piece of meat. Obviously, you are not immune to her charms."

"Why do you care?"

"I just said I don't. The point is you're a liar, a lecher, and an idiot who can't remember a word I say!"

"If you didn't care, why are you getting worked up over it? She's just another woman," he said off-handedly, as if his opinion didn't matter one way or another. And yet, the last sentence out of Kakashi's mouth ignited the kunoichi's jealousy like an exploding tag. She wasn't some other woman! He never looked at any other woman like that! He didn't even look at her like-!

Sakura's thoughts stopped cold along with her feet. She was jealous of Takara for gaining her partner's attention, unbelievably jealous. His hand pulled her into taking a step closer, and she squashed the thought as soon as it sprung up in her mind. It didn't matter. If she was jealous, it was beside the point. He was still an idiot. "She's just another woman who's exceedingly beautiful that you couldn't take your eyes off of until I pinched you," she said, sounding deflated. "I'm not jealous. You're just an idiot."

"I never accused you of being jealous . . ." Kakashi said lowly, and Sakura's stomach dropped. A slight, cocky grin graced the ninja's lips. Shit. He already knew she was jealous, didn't he? And she walked right into his verbal trap. Suddenly, the kunoichi's mind clicked. He purposefully wanted to make her jealous. But why? Only he knew the answer to that one, but it didn't stop her from guessing. "Bastard . . ." she muttered harshly. "You did that on purpose, just to make me angry."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"I hate you."

"And I appreciate you with the utmost esteem, Sakura-chan," Kakashi teased, his eye creasing. Of course he wasn't serious, but then again, neither was she. She never could be mad at him forever. The kunoichi huffed in indignation, "I don't think Jun-san's going to like it that you were eyeing up the mistress."

"Just checking out the competition, that's all. You're worrying too much tonight."

"Why? Honestly?" Sakura asked, staring at him again before being spun away. He didn't answer as she stood at arms length, and didn't tug her back either. After a moment in which the slow music filled her ears, the kunoichi pulled her hand from his grasp and turned to stalk off. She'd taken half a step when Kakashi grabbed her opposite hand, pulling her around until they were face to face again. "Are you asking why I was looking at her or why I tried to make you jealous?"

His hand grabbed her waist again, and she followed, keeping exactly the same distance between them as before. Sakura didn't answer his question because she didn't know what she really wanted to know. No matter what she asked, part of her knew that something would change between them once the words were past her lips. She didn't want them to change. All her years as a genin and chuunin were filled with changing relationships, so many highs and lows. Now that something stable had formed with her ex-teacher, changing that bond seem tantamount to undoing it. And so, the pink-haired young woman remained mute, following his lead.

Kakashi didn't push her for an answer, almost grateful when she didn't give one regardless. He didn't think he could answer his own question either. Yet, he never thought about what else she would ask. "Why are we just friends, Kakashi?"

He had been avoiding asking himself the same thing, only his question included the words 'more than' as well. The final notes of the slow song struck, and without thinking, the ninja moved with them. One second she was close enough that he could smell the scent of her hair, and the next she was spinning away from him, stopping as they stood across from each other. For a moment, he didn't say anything except to look at Sakura, wondering if there was something more to the glance of her green eyes or if he just imagined it. No, he had to be seeing things. Nothing had changed between them, and nothing would ever change because neither of them would allow it, right?

Suddenly, the ninja wasn't as sure in that thought as he'd been before. For now, it was the same as it always was. which only left him with one reply, "Because everything I feel for you . . ."

". . . is out of friendship," Sakura finished for him. "Thank you, that's what I needed to hear."

She graced him with one of her most endearing smiles, and for some odd reason, the Copy nin's heart thumped an extra beat at the sight. The feeling was annoying, very, very annoying, so much so that he was beginning to wonder . . . Kakashi squashed the thought before it threw him off anymore, muttering, "Congratulations, you just did the waltz without falling on your face."

Her smile slowly turning into a smirk. "Maybe you're not that bad of a teacher after all."

He grinned just as slowly, then toned it back down to a neutral expression. "High compliment from my favorite student. Time to get to work."

She nodded and turned, starting to wade through the crowd on the dance floor until he stopped her by grabbing her elbow. "Three hours remember. If there's an emergency and you need me . . ."

"Ask you for another dance, I remember. Don't you have something to do?"

Kakashi's hand sprung open, releasing her. Sakura smiled again and walked off, disappearing into the crowd. Once she was gone, the ninja let out the breath he had been holding to avoid smelling her perfume again. He didn't know what it was, but the scent lingered in his nose after she was gone. It smelled really good too as he shifted on his feet. Like he wasn't distracted enough as it was. Grumbling to himself, he stalked off the floor to look for a drink he greatly needed. "Long night, very long night."

* * *

Two and a half hours passed in a whirlwind of conversation and dancing. By the time Sakura had convinced herself that she deserved a break, her feet were killing her in the high heels. She hadn't stepped on any toes, thank goodness, and had kept it down to one drink. It was hard to avoid the alcohol when it seemed to flow so readily, especially after the presentation of the ship plans and models by Jun, but she managed no matter how many glasses were put into her hands.

Over the course of the night, she had spotted Kakashi only a few times, including dancing with Jun once. Given that the older woman was smiling by the end, it seemed that she had forgotten all about the Copy nin's indiscretions. It still marveled her that he could dance, but she supposed that came with being male and shinobi. Every single one of them excelled at being surprising, especially when you think you know them.

Kakashi wasn't the only one that had surprised her that night. Takara never seemed to leave Hiro's side all night, which made getting close to him all the more vexing. Every time she attempted to get close enough to separate the two, something came up, be it more dancing, more drinks, or more people in the way. It left the kunoichi with one of two conclusions; either the mistress was very possessive of her man, or she was smarter than they expected. Neither hypotheses were pleasant to think about, but the latter especially left a sickening feeling in her stomach that she couldn't shake.

As the night started to wind down, so did Sakura's list of people to talk to until only Jun's husband and his mistress remained. If she was going to get anywhere close to either of them, she needed a plan. But forming a plan while dodging amorous single men in tuxedos looking for a dancing partner was easier said than done. The kunoichi frowned, walking down the hallway while trying to find at least one of the many bathrooms hidden around the mansion.

It didn't take her too long, finding one room clearly marked ladies only with a few women milling around the doorway, chatting. The mansion had been designed to hold these sorts of social gatherings it seemed. And true to any party, women seemed to congregate anywhere that men were not allowed, including the lavatories. All she needed was one stall and five minutes to record her notes and come up with an idea.

She pushed her way past the other ladies and into the room, quickly finding one unoccupied toilet and locking herself in. Exhaling in relief, the pink-haired kunoichi put the seat down and pulled a small note pad and pen from her clutch before sitting down. No one seemed to notice her at all and she didn't notice them either, pieces of conversation passing by her door like background noise until something caught her attention, "I cannot believe that woman, the nerve of her to wear gold to a black and silver party. Hasn't she heard of a dress code? And to show up on Jun-sama's husband's arm too."

"Nerve indeed. She's a disgrace to this company, having an affair with a married man."

"But they are separated . . ." said a meek third voice.

"Don't defend her. You hate her too. Men are so stupid, falling for notorious women . . ."

"Can you blame him? I had to almost shake my husband to get him to stop staring."

"Do you honestly think the board will care about Hiro-san's blackened reputation of being with that woman at the next meeting?"

"I think not. All they care about is the profit margin, and ever since her father died, Jun-sama hasn't been performing as well as she did before."

"That's because she's too busy trying to deal with her philandering husband."

"Last quarter was so awful, all those cuts . . ."

"We should be wary for our own husband's jobs and not hers. I heard there were two agents here tonight that Jun-sama hired to fire people."

The silence that fell over the women made the kunoichi shrink down on the toilet seat. It was obvious whom they were about to talk about.

"Really? Who?"

"That dashing silver-haired man and the woman with the odd hair color."

"Oh! Her!?" a fourth woman asked, breaking into the conversation. "I've never seen hair that pink in my life! But really, her? She looks too . . ."

"Too pretty to be useful? That's what I thought too, especially since most of the single men tonight seem to be flocking to her or that Takara, but she doesn't seem that interested in the attention. In fact, I saw her around a few of the gentlemen of the board. Maybe she's smarter than we think, looking for a permanent job."

"Maybe Takara has met her match. She could have been lobbying for Jun-sama, or to win Hiro for herself. She seemed to want to get close to him, following him around tonight."

Sakura bit her lip to keep from swearing out loud.

"Doubt it, that blonde menace to femininity wouldn't let such a thing happen."

A fifth woman snorted in disdain. "I wouldn't put it past Takara to sleep with all of the board members to sway votes just in case."

Loud gasps were followed by tittering giggles but Sakura wasn't laughing, frowning as she sunk down until she was nearly hunched over. Her pen scratched on the paper, making notes of the gossip even if she didn't like what she was hearing. This could be bad, especially if it was uncovered that they really were trying to save Jun's job. She was nearly finished when the laughter abruptly stopped at the sound of the bathroom door opening. There was nothing but silence again, and a tension in the air that she could feel, the type of calm encountered before a fight broke out. Somehow, she didn't think this fight would be physical in nature. A new feminine voice shattered the quiet. "I suppose being stunning is a truthful compliment after all."

Sakura's voice caught in her throat as she recognized the speaker, Takara.

Not soon after the words were out of her mouth did the sound of heels on tile and the shuffle of expensive silks fill the bathroom followed by the door opening and closing one after another. Judging by the feet passing by her little stall, the blonde had managed to clear out the whole room with just a few words. She could see the trail of golden lace move across the floor along with the clinking of shoes, stopping in front of the long vanity counter. "You can come out now too, Haruno-san," she said, and Sakura flinched. "I don't bite, much."

Caught, the kunoichi slipped her things back into her purse, stood up, and flushed the toilet before opening the stall door. Takara stood across from her, looking into the mirror to see the pink-haired young woman. "You must be hearing an earful about me tonight from all those old bats, huh?"

Not saying anything, she moved up to the sink beside the other woman, and turned on the water to wash her hands. "You're not really here to cut people's jobs are you?" she asked just as Sakura held her hands under the spray. "Your dress is too expensive to afford on the salary of a mere temp hire."

Her inner self cursed, glaring daggers at the blonde witch who continued speaking in the silence. "But I could be wrong. Maybe you do other things for Jun-chan, you and that man, Hatake-san was it?"

Sakura took a bar of the nearby soap, lathering her hands with it before returning to the water. She seemed to ignore Takara entirely, not even bothering to look over as she rinsed. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're implying, but yes, I have heard quite an earful of a lot of things tonight."

A cordial smile spread over her face while looking at the woman before she reached for a towel, methodically drying her hands. Slowly, the blonde's chin rose up proudly, her arms folding over her chest while turning towards the kunoichi. "So you do know then, that I'm fucking Hiro. Why are you here in Snowfall?"

"To do my job, which is none of your concern," Sakura shot back, placing the towel down to grab her purse again. She turned towards the blonde as well, noticing with curiosity the growing smile on Takara's face. It was the same malicious smile she gave Jun earlier, like she'd already won the battle. "He's not a bad lay, you know."

"Who?" she asked dumbly, her eyebrows scrunched together.

"Hiro . . ." Takara said with dramatic pause before bursting out in laughter. "No, I lie, he's horrible, wretched. He's worst lay in my life. His only potential lies in his bank account and this shoddy company. He's going to take over it, I know he will, but the poor fool, he's so confused without me. Hell, he's even confused when he's sleeping with me. He can't get enough of me yet he keeps thinking about his dumb wife's feelings. But I'm not worried about her. He'll leave her when I want him to. Married men are so easy to entertain and married women are so . . . boring. It's no wonder she lost him. No wonder men cheat too. Really, he isn't worth your time. He's much too enthralled with me already."

Sakura's fist clenched on her purse, but her face remained neutral even as the blonde went on, "You're more of competition for me than she is. You may be shorter, lacking in figure, and have that monstrosity of a brow, but you're just as smart as I am. I can see it in your eyes . . ."

"What exactly are you implying . . .?" she asked, holding down the dangerous tone in her voice even if she felt like punching the winning grin off of Takara's face.

"I've seen you trying to get close to him, you and Hatake. You can't deny it. So I've had a little theory. Care to hear it?"

"Enlighten me," Sakura deadpanned, trying her hardest not to scowl.

"Jun-chan hired you to steal Hiro back from me, because she knows she can't do it herself. It makes perfect sense; hire a whore to eliminate a whore. She'd still control the company through you in his bed until you turn him back over to her, brilliant. That means that man with you is your lover, your pimp, or a nobody. Am I right?"

Inner Sakura screamed in fury, more than ready deck the blonde through five walls at least, and with just her pinkie. But, if she did that, everything was blown, the mission, the money, everything. If they failed this mission over her mistake, Tsunade would never let her live down how she'd cost Konoha so much over a task that was so easy. The only person who wouldn't have cared if they failed or not was Kakashi. But then again, possibly losing his respect for letting her temper get the better of her was even worse. Still, she couldn't let the insult go totally unnoticed.

An angry vein popped along her forehead whether she willed it or not. Her hands shook slightly while her voice remained coldly steady, "You are sadly mistaken. My partner and I have no interest in anything but helping Minagawa Eastern Trading and Jun-san through its recent difficulties. I don't play politics; I just bypass them to do my job."

Turning on her heel, the pink-haired woman headed for the door. "What is your job then?" Takara asked, making her stop in her tracks. "Or perhaps I will start spreading this little theory of mine. It should be interesting to see since there are questions about you both already."

"I already said that my job is none of your business," Sakura answered harshly, glaring at the blonde in gold from over her shoulder.

"And if I make it my business?"

"I am a very private woman, and this is a delicate matter I am settling for the company. If you interfere in my business, then I'll make you my job instead," she threatened back, unhitching her anger enough that it burned in her green eyes. Takara didn't seem moved at all, still smiling but with a bit more satisfaction. "Tough, I like it . . . Perhaps, I should make your Hatake my business instead?" the blonde asked.

For a brief moment, Sakura's free hand tightened into a fist, chakra flowing into her palm. She wanted so badly to obliterate the smug look on Takara's perfect face, more so than she ever wanted before. And yet, the shock of that thought, of defending Kakashi's honor for once, made her release the hold on her chakra as quickly as it built. Damnit, why did that reaction feel so natural to her? He meant nothing to her, just a friend, just a partner. Jealousy had bitten her, again, but she wasn't about to let it get the better of her. Sakura smiled, "He's not your type."

"Really? That small?"

"That poor," the kunoichi said with a grin.

The joke didn't amuse the blonde at all. "Stay away from my Hiro. He's mine. He will be the president of this company. I have waited too long for this, and not you, your man, or that simpering bitch Jun is going to stop me."

Sakura tried not to look surprise at the revelation, doing her best to imitate one of Kakashi's blank stares. "I have no intentions of pursuing anyone."

"Good, then we have nothing to worry about, do we?"

"No, we don't," she said with as much finality as she could muster, nodding her head in a shallow bow. "Goodbye, Takara-san. I hope we never meet again."

The kunoichi's green eyes hardened, promising ill intent despite the courteous smile her face held. The blonde's lips pressed into a thin line, obviously not pleased at all. "Likewise, Sakura-san."

Without returning the bow, Takara stormed past her and out the door. After the slamming, she could hear startled gasps from the hallway, probably from eavesdroppers. This wasn't good, not at all. The mistress was on to them before they had even really done anything. Sakura took a deep breath, calming her frazzled nerves as best as she could. Easy mission? Her inner self, of course, testified to not believing that claim for a minute. She should have told herself so. Groaning in misery, she held a hand to her forehead, nearly certain that she was indeed going insane. "I need to find Kakashi," she muttered to herself.

Behind her, the door opened, startling the kunoichi as she yelped in surprise. A group of women crowded in the hallway around the bathroom, staring at her in wonder. Sakura blinked. "Can I . . .?"

"You, you are our hero!" one of the women in front blurted out, awestruck.

The kunoichi blinked rapidly. "Excuse me?"

"I've never seen Takara that mad before. I can't believe you stood up to her! We never should have doubted you! You're wonderful!" shouted another lady excitedly.

A lop-sided smile twitched nervously on Sakura's face as they actually started clapping and cheering. In the face of this very unusual situation, she did the only thing she could do. She smiled and bowed slightly in appreciation all the while turning bright red. "He's going to kill me," she mumbled to herself under the applause.

* * *

The night had gone smoother than he thought, standing out on the balcony at the back of the ballroom that overlooked the gardens below. He didn't mind the chill at all. It was better than the growing heat from all the dancers taking up the floor. Snow covered everything in sight, making the moonless night look brighter than it really was. And yet, it was rapidly growing darker as well. A storm was rolling in until the clouds blanketed much of the stars. By morning, the city and country would be covered in a fresh layer of white. Kakashi leaned against one of the pillars while reading his book, grateful to be alone for once that night, but not that grateful. For some odd reason, it felt like something was missing.

He tried not to smirk at the thought as it led back to the absence of the cherry blossom by his side. No, she would have hated it out there because of the cold. Soon enough he'd have to track her down regardless. The night was winding down. Between himself and his partner, they should have enough information to start tomorrow in swaying the favor of the company's board. The only missing piece was the one person at the center of it all, Minagawa Hiro, and the blonde seemingly attached to him. He'd seen Sakura trying to get close to them all night, doggedly, but he knew it wouldn't happen as soon as he saw Takara in the flesh and not through spyglasses. They had underestimated the mistress. Kakashi frowned, turning another page. Icha Icha wasn't going to give him any answers, but it was better than beating his head against a wall in frustration.

For a moment, the ninja thought about confronting the situation head on when he heard a pair of feet shuffling behind him. Quickly, he closed the book and shoved it back inside his jacket pocket before calling out, "Sakura?"

"I don't think my hair is that pink, Hatake-san" a man said behind him.

Kakashi stood up straight and turned around, finding Hiro looking at him. "Minagawa-san . . . didn't expect to you to be out here . . ."

A lop-sided grin twitched at the corners of the ninja's mouth that he quickly suppressed. Luck, it seemed, was smiling down on him for once. The man shrugged, walking tiredly over to the railing before leaning over it. "I hate these kinds of parties. It's just like any other meeting but in fancy clothes. I'm not cut out for it. I have to drink just to keep up the courage to keep talking to people I don't know."

The sliver-haired ninja turned to watch him, leaning on the pillar again as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "It is probably meant more for the women that attend these things anyway."

Hiro chuckled, sounding somewhat bitter as he nodded. "Jun always was better at it than me anyway, the maneuvering and politics. But she's not as good as Takara. That woman has a way with words. Every time I agree with her, it always seems like it's my idea. Yet, I always seem to realize five minutes later that it was her idea all along. It's so amazing sometimes . . ."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kakashi questioned, feeling a touch suspicious of the other man's statements even if he didn't show it. Hiro chuckled, standing up again with a slight wobble. Then, he understood. The man was drunk, if only slightly. "Because I knew from the look of you that you really don't give a shit about this party, or this company, or just about anything probably."

He was also very truthful and perceptive for a drunk.

Hiro almost mirrored Kakashi's pose by shoving his hands in his trouser pockets. In the failing light, his dark eye could barely see the glint of silvery metal, but it was there on the man's finger. It was a ring, a wedding band. The Copy nin took a deep breath and held it. Hiro still wore his wedding band. Luck was smiling indeed. If he noticed Kakashi staring, he didn't say anything as he continued. "No matter what I say, I'm sure it wouldn't make a bit of difference to you whereas everyone else back there is too wrapped up in either keeping their job or their own agenda. Probably too drunk, too."

"Um, you're sounding a little too drunk too . . ." Kakashi trailed off, stopping as he noticed the man's brown eyes fixated on the stone railing. "Are you ok?"

Hiro looked up suddenly and blinked, then ever so slowly, put his head back down. "Fine, just fine."

He didn't believe him for one moment. "You drink often, don't you?"

"One night a month, maybe, and then I get pissed drunk. Takara hates it when I do it, but Jun always popped the cork of a wine bottle too and joined me. This is going to be one of those nights in a few more shots, but probably without either of them around for once, thank the gods."

The ninja's eyebrows knitted together. "You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm just . . . lying. No. Really, I'm confused, really confused . . ."

That made the two of them, but the ninja kept his opinion to himself as the man went on, "It's funny. No matter how many times I sleep with her, afterwards I still feel . . . I don't know."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly, inserting words into the end of his incomplete sentence instead of 'I don't know', words like guilty, and dirty, and sorry, and bastard. Really, from everything he had heard tonight and before from Jun didn't help in swaying his opinion towards Hiro's favor. As much as he wanted to say that to his face, he couldn't. At that point, the sorry excuse of a man didn't deserve his honest opinion. "You're right," Hiro suddenly nodded up and down as if his head couldn't stay still anymore, "I really shouldn't be telling you any of this since Takara doesn't like you, or that Haruno-san with the loud hair."

He stopped rambling a moment and gave a snort, grinning broadly. "I think she's jealous of the pink myself."

Kakashi couldn't hold the smile down any more at the mention of her hair. "Sakura always did know how to make an appearance."

"She's lovely, beautiful. You must have noticed. You sound fond of her."

"I am, I guess. She's . . . special, in her own ways."

"Wife?"

"Um," Kakashi's smile faded back into neutral, "No."

"Fiancée?"

"No."

"Lover?"

"No, just my business partner."

"Shame . . ." Hiro said in profound sorrow, as if he had just said that Sakura was sick with the plague. "Some lucky guy is gonna snap her up from you one day, then you won't get to be 'business partners' with the likes of her anymore."

The neutral expression turned into a stern frown. Where did everyone keep getting that idea from anyway? "It isn't like that."

"Oh, really?"

"We're just . . . friends," that phrase sounded convincing in the ninja's head, but that conviction died as it crossed his lips. It certainly didn't convince Hiro. Whether Kakashi liked it or not, he reached up and patted the taller man on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. By the annoyed twitch the ninja gave, it wasn't comforting at all, but it didn't matter to the man's drink-addled perspective of the world. "It happens every day. Lots of good women just up and quit life as soon as some foolish guy puts a ring on their finger."

There was a sound of regret in Hiro that was hard not to miss. For a moment, the ninja put aside the reference to Sakura to wonder if the remorse in his voice came from the memory of Jun or someone else. Before he could ponder too long, the dark-haired man turned to him suddenly. "Do you mind if I ask for your opinion, on something, in confidence?"

A pale eyebrow rose up. Now he wanted an honest opinion? Part of Kakashi relished the opportunity to potentially settle their entire mission right then and there . . . that was until he realized that Hiro probably wouldn't remember a thing about their conversation in the morning with his hangover. Well, maybe parts of their conversation, but probably not the parts that mattered most. Still what could it hurt? Perhaps in spite of his better judgment, he nodded. Really, how bad could one question be? Hiro grinned slightly, nodding too before stopping to look out at the snow. "Would you throw over everything for one woman? Everything you owned? Everything else you cared about? Your life as you knew it essentially? Would one woman be worth that much?"

He was wrong. One question exactly like that could be very bad.

How could he answer that? In his very, extremely, barely-worthy-of-notice experience with women and love, he was of the firm opinion that none of it was worth giving up everything for. Could he see himself doing that for a woman he loved? No way in all of hell. There wasn't a woman alive that could drive him so far. Nothing came before his duty to Konohagakure . . . except his teammate. Sakura was his teammate. By correlation, that made her more important than his duty, right? Ok, so there was one woman alive that he could potentially give up everything for, but she would have to have a very, very good reason for him to do that, and it wouldn't be out of love. No, his reasoning was only out of friendship and nothing else. Thoroughly convincing himself of that fact, it dawned on Kakashi that his logic still hadn't answered the damned question.

But then again, when did he ever really answer a question that he never wanted to answer in the first place? He smirked slightly. "That sounds more like five questions. You sure you want my opinion on each? This might be a while."

Hiro chuckled, "I suppose that's a question I should answer by myself, huh?"

Kakashi shrugged, "You should be asking yourself why you need an answer to that type of question in the first place."

The small laughter stopped cold. After a moment, the dark-haired man sniffled, rubbing a hand under his cold nose then down his rough chin. The ninja's eye darted to the band again. Nope, it was there. He had seen it the first time after all. "I never felt about Jun the way I feel about Takara . . . but I've never felt about Takara the way I feel about Jun," Hiro said, his voice barely above a whisper, "so I have to keep asking myself that question, but I thought you might have had an answer I'd like to hear."

"I'm not one to give answers."

"But you do listen to drunken bastards like me," he said with a sardonic grin. "Can't be too bad, Hatake-san."

"Kakashi. Kakashi is-," he started to say when a loud voice screeched across the balcony, "Hiro!"

They both turned to see the blonde in gold lace standing in the opened doorway. As soon as Takara's brown eyes fell on the ninja, she went from seemingly upset to irate with just one glare. His eyebrows scrunched together, curious about what he did to deserve the look. Women never looked at him like that without either a good reason or a weapon in their hands. Aside from the purse, her dress was too tight to hide anything remotely dangerous in. Why would she be fighting mad at him? In the next moment, the flash of insane anger in her eyes was gone, replaced with a disappointed pout. "It's late. I'm cold. You're sloshed. Can we go home now? It's a dull party anyway."

Hiro shifted on his feet, taking a hesitant step towards Takara. "I was just talking-"

The anger snapped in her eyes before it was veiled away behind a more insistent pout and whine. "But Hiro, you promised when I came back that we'd go. Don't you want to . . .?"

Her unfinished sentence jumpstarted Kakashi's tainted mind with too many ideas of what she implied. Hiro's feet picked up as he walked over towards her, the silly grin on his face telling it all as she snuggled up to his side with an indulgent giggle. The ninja's dark eye drooped. She was a professional mistress, alright, with the dumb blonde nymphomaniac act down to perfection. As soon as Jun's ex-husband tried to wave in his direction, Takara pulled him away, back through the door. "Uh! Nice to meet you, Hatake-san!" Hiro shouted, nearly stumbling off his feet and into someone else.

The ninja held up his hand to wave back, but they were already gone. And Sakura called him rude. At the thought of the cherry blossom, his shoulders sagged, hands shoved back into his pockets as he turned around again. "I don't like that woman . . ." Kakashi muttered to himself, picking up the sound of shoes behind him once more. "Took you long enough."

"Problems with the ladies room," Sakura said, watching his turned back from the doorway after nearly being bumped into by the quickly fleeing Takara. "We have a few complications . . ."

She opened her mouth to explain more when he cut her off. "Later."

The ninja turned around, ushering her back inside with a wave of his hand. "It's too cold out here for lovely flowers."

Sakura smiled slightly at the compliment, but took it like everything else he said to her that night, at nothing more than face value, "Flatterer."

"Fine. You'll get sick out here. Better?"

"Much improved," she joked, smiling brightly. Something in his chest tightened suddenly then slowly unclenched when Sakura's smile disappeared. Kakashi held his breath and the door until she slipped inside. He stood there, watching her walk away, and then followed as if he wasn't watching her at all.

* * *

Genma frowned, wishing he had heard that conversation instead of Ino. This was useless, pointless, just some stupid party they couldn't get into. Like one party with dancing would change anything. And freezing out there in winter whites was certainly not worth the effort. It had become so cold that he had to discard his toothpicks or else let them freeze to his lips. He bit down the inside of his mouth instead to keep from grumbling and to keep himself entertained without something to suck on. The bushes he squatted in shook slightly. He looked over his shoulder to see the blonde next to him huddled up close while rubbing the arms of her snowy white coat. "Nothing too revealing happened."

"Doesn't surprise me. Waste of our goddamned time. Nothing's going to fucking happen tonight," he said harshly while starting to crawl out towards the garden walls. "As soon as we get back, I am taking a nice long soak in the tub, then writing Tsunade a very grim report on this. Do they pay extra if we get permanent frostbite?"

"No, not when it's your own fault for not bundling up right."

"Well it's not like you would help me out there with some shared bodily warmth," Genma muttered with a smirk until she threw him a disgusted look that wiped his expression away. "Force of habit."

Ino sighed, jumping over the wall with a short burst of chakra. He followed her, taking his time as she already started through the snow-covered field. From the determined crunch of snow with each step she took, he knew she wasn't pleased, and it was probably with him. "Hey, it's not like I can help it. If I could, I wouldn't be me," he tried to argue, but the blonde didn't respond.

What had he said? What could he say to get himself out of this one?

"I'm sorry?"

She still didn't talk, and her pace picking up slightly. "Shit," Genma cursed, jogging to keep up with Ino, "What did I do now?! I haven't said one crossed thing to you all day! I even said-!"

"It's not that," she said, stopping. "I . . . I heard something back there. I've been thinking about it."

He blinked, eyebrows rising up. "Good news?"

"I don't know . . . how well do you know Kakashi's mannerisms?"

Genma tried not to frown, but couldn't help it. That kind of question didn't bode well. "I'd like to think I know him well enough . . . What did he say?"

"That guy asked him a pretty pointed question on love, if he thought one woman would be worth giving everything up for."

"And?"

"He hesitated and avoided the question."

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long did he wait before answering?"

Ino blinked, starting to walk again. "Um, a good fifteen seconds, why?"

A smile started to inch up Genma's face, turning into a full-on grin of epic proportions as he hopped past her towards the bare trees. "The cracks in his armor are showing."

She snorted, not believing the bold assessment for a minute. "I thought you'd given up hope?"

"What? Me?" he asked, sounding shocked before laughing heartily. "Perish the thought, sweetheart. He doesn't hesitate unless he's thinking too much. I wonder what he was thinking about when he was asked that, or whom."

"He was probably wondering when the next Icha Icha Paradise was coming out," Ino mocked with a haughty tilt to her head. "How am I supposed to know anyway? I'm not Kakashi."

The brown-haired jounin grunted a response as he trudged along and left it like that. As the walk went on before they took to the trees, the blonde's mouth slowly tugged downwards into a contemplative frown. She suddenly stopped on another limb, snow falling from the branches on the landing. "Can I ask you something?"

Genma stopped as well on the next tree over, turning towards her. "What now?"

"Um . . ." she asked while reaching up to scratch the back of her neck distractedly, "I was just curious how you would answer that question, if you thought it was possible to love someone like that."

He blinked. Well, it was one subject no woman ever dared touch with him, and with good reason, because most of them knew his thoughts on that already. Genma's face scrunched up in distaste. "I thought I told you I don't believe in that romantic crap? Any man that does is out of his damned mind to do something like that just for one woman. But that seems to be a requirement for love, huh? To be fucking insane?"

The curious look on Ino's face went away in an instant, turning to stone-cold frigidness. "You're right. I shouldn't have expected you to be able of having that much emotional capacity. I keep forgetting I'm the hopeless romantic and you're the heartless bastard in this thing together."

"Hey!" he shouted as she took off again, "I'm not that heartless! I like kittens!"

"Forget I ever asked!"

And yet, as he chased after her through the trees and then over buildings on the way back to their little hotel room, he couldn't forget completely like she hoped. It sounded so right to say at the moment, that if he didn't say it, he'd be betraying everything he stood for. But did he really believe what he sprouted off to her? A few weeks ago, hell yes, he'd never let a woman ruin his life like that. But as he watched Ino beat him to the bathroom door and soundly ram it close behind her, he was no longer so sure that was the impression he wanted to give her. Unlike him, she still had hope in love whereas his had disappeared somewhere long ago on his path to being a ninja.

Bitterness welled up in Genma as he heard the shower turn on. He wasn't one to answer such a question anyway. Really, what woman could ever ruin his life if he never really let one of them into his heart in the first place?

* * *

End Notes –

Gown Design inspired by John Galliano for Christian Dior Couture collection, Fall 2005.

Waltz inspired by Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps sung by Doris Day.

To Be Continued in Part 5 of Dirty Deeds, Blind Bets.


	5. Blind Bets

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 5 – Blind Bets

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever, if you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

It was too late for them to be doing this. Sakura wiped her eyes, trying to get rid of the sleepiness in them to no avail. She should have been angry with him, hopping mad for being forced to stay up, but that would have required energy she didn't have. Damn him and his work ethic. She sagged back into the chair at the table, waiting. He hadn't even given her time to change out of her gown after they'd returned from the party. Obviously, something had happened that night that made Kakashi more than eager to keep her awake this much longer, but he still hadn't told her what exactly. Even on their drive back, when she'd told him about her confrontation with Takara, he didn't reveal anything. What could he be hiding? Whatever it was, it had better be good, she thought bitterly. And what was taking him so long?

She glanced over her shoulder to see the Copy nin walk back into the kitchen. As expected, the dark mask was back on his face, and she nearly pouted. The small thrill of seeing his features that had stayed with her all evening was gone. His tuxedo jacket was missing, and his shirt was halfway off, as if for a moment he had decided to change clothes, then changed his mind instead. Sakura frowned, fidgeting in the stiff corset still tightened around her body that kept her posture as rigid as a board. Men had it so easy when it came to fancy clothes.

He put the notepad she had scribbled in down on the table alongside his own, and one more item, a deck of playing cards, before taking the seat across from her. Her eyebrows rose up. "Isn't it a bit late for a card game?"

Kakashi's eye creased at her, yet he didn't say anything while turning through the papers. Obviously, he didn't think so. "I compiled our notes, and worked out a plan. Sorry if I took a while," he said, still leafing through the notepad.

"That's actually pretty fast for you."

He looked up at the kunoichi and smirked under the mask. "This is going to be one of those discussions, isn't it?"

She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. "Make it fast. I want to get to bed sometime tonight."

His hands stopped at one page in particular, turning it towards her before he picked up the deck. Jotted down in his neat handwriting was a list of names, a long list, half of which she recognized as the men she had been busy dancing with and chatting up most of the night. She even noticed the names of the few women Kakashi had been busy with as well. Each one of them was a member of the Minagawa board of directors, holding the power to take away their client's family business. That had been the entire point of going to the party, to assess where the board stood, who needed swaying, and what buttons to push. By the end of the night, they both knew that it was a mixed result, but neither of them expected it to be this close. Out of the almost two hundred names, one third of them were marked in red and another third in green. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant by the color code.

The board was evenly split on who would vote for Jun and who would vote for Hiro, except for the sixty some odd names he had written in black. "Our work is going to be cut out for us . . ." Sakura muttered. "Sixty, you sure? That's a lot of people to sway. Can't we come up with something else?"

"Turn the page, Sakura," Kakashi seemed to ignore her question entirely, shuffling the cards. A pink eyebrow twitched at him in annoyance, but she turned the page anyway. There was another list of names written on the surface, the same ones that had been marked in black on the page before, only there were slightly less of them, and a funny number and code by each. "We only need fifty-two votes in Jun-san's favor. There are fifty-two names on that list and fifty-two cards in my hand. As you can see, I put a little number and symbol next to each name," the shinobi explained, putting the cards down long enough to split them in half and shuffle them back together again. "One for each card in the deck."

"So that little squiggle is supposed to be a club . . . I think?" Sakura asked, scratching a part of her upswept pink hair. "Your drawing skills are worst to figure out than Naruto's handwriting."

He scowled at her, and then resumed shuffling the cards. "Pay attention please? There is a reason why I did that."

The thin pieces of paper seemed to fly through the Copy nin's fast fingers: cut apart, pressed in an arch, then flipped rapidly back into one pile before she could blink. Watching him shuffle was hypnotic in effect as the swiftly moving cards became the only thing her tired mind could focus on. As he bent the deck back in a bridge, her eyes stayed glued to his hands, watching as the thin pieces of paper fell evenly one by one back into a single stack. Kakashi had her attention. "What are you proposing we do?"

"If this is going to be our work for the next four weeks, swaying the board vote, we might as well make it efficient . . . and fun."

Both of her eyebrows shot up, her jade eyes as wide as if she had just drank an entire pot of coffee. Kakashi had her undivided attention. He placed the deck before her. "Cut."

Without thinking, she parted the cards roughly around the middle. He quickly placed the two piles one over the other, and dealt the cards between them. "Fifty-two is too many to tackle together, but twenty-six is not a bad number. And this way, with the code I've written in effect, no one knows whom we're talking about, not even Jun-san."

"You don't trust her?"

"I do, but I don't trust the walls around that building she calls an office."

"But you said something about a game. What's the catch?"

"Fastest person to finish their half deck wins," he said as he finished passing out the cards, tossing the last one onto her small pile. Sakura pulled them towards her, cramming them between her hands back into an orderly stack. Picking up the pile, she shuffled the cards, a skeptical look in her green eyes. "Wins what exactly?"

Kakashi blinked, and for a moment it looked as if he was at an entire loss. The nervous head scratching was a dead giveaway that he had no idea. When he shrugged and picked up his cards, Sakura remained entirely unsurprised. He'd never admit to not thinking that far ahead, not on his life. Her jade eyes began to roll, yet abruptly stopped when a thought struck her. Slowly, a wicked grin spread across her face as she put the cards down, leaning over the table to stare at him. It took every bit of control the Copy nin possessed to not fidget in his seat while avoiding staring back. "Yes?"

"If I win, then next mission, the Icha Icha stays in Konoha."

The cards he had been neatly ordering in his hands dropped into his lap along with his jaw. She couldn't be serious. And here he thought that she was over ridding him of his beloved books and accepted them as somewhat tasteful, if not risqué, literature. She even borrowed the ones he wasn't reading sometimes. Something was very wrong here. Kakashi's eye slowly narrowed on his female partner. "Why would you want to do something like that?"

A grin that was at once both beautiful and terribly wicked crossed the kunoichi's face. "Because I know it would annoy you to no end, for once. And you always honor your bets."

She knew his weakness much too well. "Alright, if I win then, you will buy me dinner for the next two months."

"I already get stuck with your bill every time we eat out. How is that threat any different?"

"Because I will be able to enjoy my meal without needing to plan my escape once I'm done," he answered with an emphatic nod. Sakura's eyes rolled. Oh, yeah, like that was a valid excuse. Slowly, she smirked. "You're just trying to come up with something because you really don't want me to win."

Kakashi's eye creased happily at her, and she knew there was probably some cheesy grin under his mask. "And my favorite student is correct once again."

She snorted, leaning back in her chair to examine the cards fanned out in her hand, as well as sorting them by number and suit. Finished, she slowly stacked them back up again, peering at the ninja. There were still plenty of things she wanted to ask him, like how they were going to conduct this game to begin with, but the night had dragged on long enough. Morning would bring all the answers she wanted and the clear head she needed.

Sakura looked up to watch him reorganizing his hand after they had fallen into his lap, oblivious to the quizzical glance she gave him. Somehow, she couldn't help but wonder. They weren't complicating things, were they? The mission was supposed to be simple: destroy Hiro by any means necessary. She knew he wanted to handle the situation gently, but she still didn't understand why at all. The only reason why she cared about the mission at all was because of Takara. Seeing that blonde bitch deprived of her prize would be pleasure enough for the kunoichi. But, it still didn't explain why they had to go to these lengths.

Sighing, Sakura placed the deck back down and stood up with a rustle of silk. "I'm going to bed. I've had enough for one night."

"Don't you want to know the rest of the plan?" Kakashi asked, finally seeming to notice her presence and curious even as she waved him off, turning her back towards him. Apparently, to Sakura, that was the end of the discussion. He slumped over the table, propping up his chin with his hand before tossing his cards down. "Alright, tomorrow then."

Standing in the kitchen's doorway, she stopped, looking over her shoulder at him. "What did Hiro say tonight anyway? Anything important?"

"You will be disappointed to hear it," he smirked, neatly avoiding her question.

"Disappoint me and humor me, then," she said wearily, turning sideways. "I want to know, not that it matters too much."

"He said nearly nothing, but talked about you and me."

Her green eyes opened slightly, not looking as tired as she had moments ago. "Oh?"

Kakashi's mask quirked into a smirk, and she knew he wasn't being serious at all. Even if she was curious, he wasn't about to reveal what the man had said about them. Sakura shook her head, shifting on her feet. "Is that all?"

"No, not all. He also demonstrated that he has some love left for Jun-san, which is what we needed to know. He's just highly confused between his heart and his-"

The Copy nin's distractedly waving hand said what his cut-off words didn't.

"I get the point . . . I think," she muttered, crossing her arms. "I can't believe you're still determined to go through with this. There are other things we should be worrying about, like that blonde menace."

The ninja frowned, knowing exactly whom she was alluding too. Most of their conversation on the car ride home had centered on the mistress. She was becoming annoying, but not annoying enough to warrant elimination . . . yet. Kakashi stretched in his chair, long and languidly, and Sakura frowned. Obviously, since he hadn't deemed that her concern was worthy of a response, he was ignoring her. And she was too tired to do anything about it. If he chose to ignore her warnings, when the problem of Takara did come up, she'd have every right to the I-told-you-so's already running through her head. It would serve the Copy nin right for once to be wrong as well, when he was always so right. Turning away again, she continued walking, fiddling with the corset zipper at her underarm to finally take the constricting gown off. "Alright, tomorrow then."

Little did Sakura know that as she began to take off all those elegant layers of sheer silk, Kakashi's attention was square on watching her move towards the bedroom. His pale eyebrow quirked upwards upon finally seeing where the opening of that dress was. As soon as she disappeared from the doorway and behind the wall, the Copy nin rapidly shook his head to clear the dirty thoughts that had been floating to the surface of his mind. He really needed to stop staring at her when she wasn't looking. All it took was one instance of being caught to land him in more trouble than the staring was worth. On the bright side, she didn't ask him to help her unzip that corset.

But he would have obliged if she had asked.

As soon as that thought passed through his mind, he reached for the back of his pants, and pulled his trusty little book from the waistband where he had tucked it earlier. If thoughts of Sakura were going to plague him from now until the end of their mission, then Icha Icha would have to be his salvation. He also had to win their little wager now too, as a matter of life and death. If he had to survive a mission in close quarters with the pink-haired kunoichi without his beloved books, his death by her hands was more than likely. Kakashi flipped the page, purposefully ignoring the rustling of fabric and the sound of movement.

At least once she was asleep, he would have time to plan their infiltration of the Minagawa Building without distraction. There was, after all, one piece of intelligence they were still missing.

* * *

"Is this necessary, really?" Sakura asked, glancing up at the lit numbers as they flashed across the top of the elevator with each floor the lift passed. "I bet Jun-san could get us his appointment book more easily than we could."

"We agreed on this. We're shinobi. No more asking our client for help."

"That was before you came up with this plan this morning. Really, it would be less hassle on our part to ask for help."

"You're the one who went to sleep early on me. You wanted to discuss it in the morning."

"It was half past two in the morning. It took me another half hour just to remove that gown and all the jewels, which we still need to return by the way. I wasn't in the mood to hear exactly why we need that book and how we were going to get it."

"But I bet now you wish you had."

"No, I just wish you'd quit coming up with these overly complicated, nearly impossible to pull off solutions to our problems . . ." she trailed off, then pouted as her arms crossed. "Even if they do tend to work."

"Really, Sakura-chan, where's your sense of adventure?" Kakashi chuckled, looking up at the numbers as well.

"It got left behind on the ferry at the start of this mission," she groused, turning towards him in the empty elevator. "And if I really wanted adventure, I would have picked a job that's more glamorous and involved less occupational hazards."

". . . But you still like this, don't you? You wouldn't be a Leaf ninja otherwise," he asked, smirking under the scarf wrapped over his lower face. "Every ninja has to have at least some sense of adventure or it would be too depressing of an existence."

Sakura shifted on her heels as her eyes looked down and away from him towards the doors. Ok, so she did like being a shinobi. She liked feeling powerful with someone else's life depending on her skills as a medic-nin. Being able to help others, and protect her friends and village gave her a purpose in life. Punching through whole walls was a definite perk, too. Begrudgingly, she even liked being around the Copy nin, at least when he wasn't reading porn or annoying the hell out of her. Yet, she wasn't about to admit any of that to him out loud, and certainly not after he had persuaded her that the best course of action was to crawl through a few ventilation shafts to their target's office. Really, asking Jun for a copy of Hiro's appointment book for the next few weeks would have been a lot easier. She sighed, frowning before suppressing another yawn.

He woke her up bright and early that morning, and even made breakfast, a rarity. She should have known that she wouldn't like what he had to say as soon as she smelled the miso soup on the stove and an extra strong pot of coffee brewing. Kakashi knew exactly when she needed buttering up to get something done, and damnit, he knew it worked on her, too.

She had agreed with his plan for a while as they went over the details. The need for new, office-appropriate clothes was a given. The use of their established cover as efficiency consultants with was brilliant too, even if he hated that he couldn't wear his mask anymore when they were in public. Even the plan he thought up to divert suspicion was simple and effective. All they had to do was have their clones administer genjutsu on the employees they summoned to make them believe they were in an interview while they went about their business screwing with the minds of the board of directors and Hiro. With no ninjas around capable of seeing through the illusions, it was easier than fishing from a barrel. But then Kakashi had to drop the wild card on her.

Their entire game depended on their knowledge of where Hiro would be at all times and when he would be in contact with the various directors, and thus, the need for a copy of his appointment book.

And somehow she allowed herself to be talked into the plan so far. There was no denying that they needed a copy of the knowledge in that book, but there had to be a better way to get it. And even besides that fact, the kunoichi couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing an opportunity to eliminate a very important enemy. Sakura's frowning continued as she wiped an eye, still tired from sleep. "I still think we should be going after Takara, not Hiro. She's on to us, like I told you so. Even if her ideas are a bit misguided, she is not too far off from the truth."

"She just has our actual occupations wrong, I know," the silver-haired man beside her muttered, still smirking as he remembered the rather choice words in Sakura's retelling. "Did she really call you a-?"

"That is entirely beside the point!" the pink-haired woman screeched before he could even finish the question. "The point is we need to get her out of the picture before she cracks our covers wide open. Even Jun-san said originally that she wanted the mistress removed from the picture, and I will gladly do it for her."

"What Jun-san says she wants and what Jun-san really wants are two different things."

"It doesn't change the fact that she's trouble. Mark my words, Kakashi. She will bite us in the ass if we don't put her in check."

Kakashi slumped, hunched over as the elevator ground to a halt on their floor. As soon as the doors opened, he stepped out into the corridor with Sakura right behind him. "Later. One thing at a time, after all."

She grumbled slightly at his words, but followed anyway. "Right, later. Always later."

* * *

Later, as in about fifteen minutes and at least fifty feet of steel ventilation shafts later, the argument popped up again in Sakura's head and out of her mouth in a scant whisper. "You know, if we did move the plan onto exposing the mistress instead, I bet we wouldn't be here right now."

That was a wonderful idea, one her inner self kept cursing Kakashi for not seeing the brilliance of.

In reality, anything would have been better at that moment than being pinned underneath the Copy nin as he peered over her shoulder and down through the vents in the ridged ceiling panel. No one had seen them slip into the custodial supply closet, or had seen their shadow clones slip out. What they saw instead was both of them get back on the elevator to go through with their cover plan. After that part, it was simply a matter of locking the door, climbing into the shaft through an access panel, and then crawling their way towards Hiro's office. It was easy. A genin could have done it. Well, a genin would have had an easier time, too, being so much smaller than a pair of fully grown adults. Yet, in practice, the hardest part was waiting for their victim to leave.

At least the building didn't use heated air to warm the offices, but Sakura almost would have preferred that to lying across cold metal. The red turtleneck and charcoal wool pants she wore couldn't keep out the chill like her new winter coat would have, but she had to leave it behind in the supply closet. Kakashi's coat and scarf were left behind too, leaving him clad in just indigo pants and shirt like normal, almost. Given that they had dressed as if they were now working for Minagawa Jun, the Copy nin had ditched the baggy clothes for a outfit cut to a more tailored fit. It had looked nice on him, the normal, non-standard issue garments, but she wasn't about to tell him, not with his weight pressed against her back. Sakura tried not to shiver from the cold. Hell, she tried not to move at all but couldn't help fidgeting from the kneecap pressed into the back of hers. If the Copy nin heard her complain at all, he didn't say anything, at least not about that. "Please don't do that."

"Do what?" she asked, trying not to scowl while squirming. The knee on her leg abruptly jabbed into her bone, making her bite the inside of her mouth to keep from yelping in pain. "Sorry," he muttered, "just don't move."

"Easy for you to say," she growled. "Where are your hands? And can you please get your leg off of mine?"

Kakashi shifted, his weight lifted off of her back, temporarily at least. "My hands aren't on you if that's what you're asking," he growled through his teeth, sounding strained. "Move, Sakura."

"There isn't room to move, idiot! I swear you should have let me read those blueprints! Both of us didn't need to do this!" the kunoichi hissed, attempting to wiggle silently to one side of the shaft, even if it wasn't far at all. "Better?"

"No."

Sakura fought down the sigh. "What is the problem?"

"Open your legs."

"What?!" she screeched under her breath until he shushed her. "What are you doing up there that makes that necessary?!"

"I'm balancing on my toes and hands right now. I know I'm strong, but I will fall on you eventually if you don't move."

"This is one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had," Sakura muttered, reluctantly parting her legs until her shins were pressed against the metal sides. A gasp struggled to free itself from her throat when she felt him drop back down on top of her and between her legs, but the kunoichi successfully held it back. The blush across her cheeks, on the other hand, couldn't be stopped. It took plenty of conscious effort on her part to remind herself that they'd been in more compromising positions before, including feeling his hips against hers. This was no different, even if her initial bodily reaction begged to differ. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, cooling off the raging blush just a little.

Her blush wasn't helped by the ragged breath hovering over the back of her neck and ear. He didn't move at all on top of her, still as stone, yet not quite as hard. He was warm, too, more so than the metal she was pressed against. It crossed her mind idly that the contrast wasn't altogether unpleasant. To make matters worse, her inner self couldn't help but notice that Kakashi had shaved that morning when his chin bumped into the side of her turned face, smooth yet rough with stubble at the same time. Her blush went from red into tones of purple, fighting down a groan of both annoyance and embarrassment. "Would you hurry up, please?" she hissed, fidgeting in her spot on the floor of the ventilation shaft.

Kakashi shifted, his hips digging into hers a little more as she swallowed another flustered gasp. "One moment, almost got it."

He twisted, moving against her body, and the kunoichi's heart leapt up into her throat.

One more moment and Sakura was almost sure she would have died right there. He had to be doing this on purpose just to tease her. He always liked getting a rise of her, but usually his attempts didn't occur on a mission or while caught in a tangle like they were in just then. She could just picture that smug grin of his at her embarrassment, too, satisfied that he was the cause of what unnerved her. The kunoichi's fingers drummed on the metal as the tension in her body relaxed. He was just teasing her, nothing more. "Kakashi . . ." she said his name low and threateningly, and the ninja stopped moving. "Do you have it or not?"

He dangled the packet of wire in front of her nose. "Ready when you are."

Sakura grabbed one end of the metal thread and started tying it to one of the screws holding up the vent panel. Kakashi took another piece and did the same. Once all four pieces of wire were in place, the Copy nin held them taunt as his partner twisted off the nuts from the screws holding the panel in place. If he was teasing her anymore, Sakura forgot about it. Business was business after all. As soon as the last piece of hardware was loosened and safely in her pockets, she let out the breath that she'd been holding. "Got it?"

"Of course I do," he muttered, not sounding strained at all despite the four thin wires he pulled on. "Now we wait."

Sakura slumped down, watching the office again through the grating. Waiting was about the most tiring part of their job. She hated waiting as much as the next shinobi, but such is life, and she had grown to accept it. Naruto was the worst at waiting. The blonde man had all the patience of an overactive two year-old with candy. Sasuke and Sai, on the other hand, were always as placid as a pond, never stirred, never off time, practically perfect. Kakashi was much the same way on missions, but with one exception. During all those times when he was forced to be close to her against his will, the man suddenly had all the patience of the Kyuubi container at his worst. "Is he gone yet?" the silver-haired ninja asked, sounding anxious.

She couldn't help but smirk to herself. "No, he isn't. Just wait."

For a moment, Sakura could have sworn she heard him grumble, causing a giggle to bubble up in her throat. She tried to smother it, but the noise came out anyway, caught halfway between a hiccup and a snort. Kakashi's grumbling stopped. "What was that?"

"Nothing," she lied, shifting to cover her mouth. He must not have believed her as he growled slightly, the wires moving in his grip. Sakura couldn't help it, giggling a little louder and clearer before clamping her lips shut. She winced, feeling his eye boring into the back of her head. "Sakura-chan, what is so funny that it's worth risking our mission over?"

"Nothing . . . sensei," she giggled, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. "Just that you're so impatient suddenly."

Kakashi snorted. Sensei, she just had to call him sensei, didn't she? It was bad enough being wedged on top of her. Every time she made one little movement, every time she took a breath, he could feel it. He wasn't easy to embarrass. Yet, he was fairly certain that if she figured out why he kept trying to keep his hips away from hers, a little embarrassment would be the least of his troubles. Just one touch was all it would take to undo so much carefully built control. She was right, this was a stupid plan on his part. Momentarily, he forgot about what she called him and concentrated on waiting out any, um, problems. "Is he gone yet?"

"No, I told you that-," Sakura started to growl before pressing herself down, peering through the grates. "He's walking to the door . . . talking to the secretary . . . He's getting his suit coat. I think he's leaving."

"About time."

"Shut up and get ready! He is leaving!"

"I heard you the-."

"The door's closing in three . . . two . . ."

As soon as the lock on the office door clicked, the metal vent panel just above jarred open. Slowly, it descended to the floor, suspended on nearly invisible wires, and landed on the carpeted floor without a sound. Sakura slid out of the opening, falling through and tumbling into an easy landing as she sprung back up to her feet. Kakashi jumped down behind her in a crouch, slowly standing back up and brushing off his pants at the same time. "Get the desk. I'll get the rest for anything else interesting."

The kunoichi didn't argue with the order, moving over to the solid stone and wooden desk in the middle of the room. She started rifling through the drawers, looking for anything that could be an appointment book. "Why doesn't it surprise me that this guy's desk is made from wood worth three of our paychecks?" she mused, not finding the item in question right away.

"Because this isn't Konoha, Sakura, and these people are rich. Keep looking and stop talking unless-" Kakashi muttered as he looked over the equally expensive bookshelves lining the room, stopping when something caught his eye. She looked up from her search of the desk, suddenly worried at his silence. Before she could question the shinobi, he pulled one of the heavier books off the shelf and put it down on the desk. Right away she noticed a large gap between the pages, as if something had been stuck in there. "I noticed it first," he frowned at her and opened the book to find a thick stack of oversized papers folded together. "This is unexpected . . ."

Sakura snatched the papers from the book, unfolding them quickly. "These are legal documents . . . Minagawa Hiro vs. Minagawa Jun . . . he's filing for divorce."

"Impossible," Kakashi took the papers back, roughly grabbing them when she offered them. He read the first page, then flipped to a few pages back before stopping. "Their signatures aren't on here . . . How much you want to bet our client doesn't know about this?"

"How much you want to bet he was trying to hide them to spring on her? And how much you want to bet that blonde snake lady is behind them being drawn up in the first place?" Sakura muttered darkly, folding her arms. "Now what?"

"Stop standing there and find that book."

She exhaled with a huff, resuming the search as he put the documents back in the book and the book back on the shelf. Just as he finished, the kunoichi paused over one of the drawers. "I didn't want to see that in there . . ."

Kakashi blinked. "What is it now?"

Sniffing in distaste and with a pout, Sakura slipped a thin black book out of one of the desk drawers. "You look at what else is in there. You'll enjoy it more than I would."

His curiosity peaked, and the ninja did just that, glancing down and smirking at what he saw. A box of condoms and a bottle lubricant rested there on top of an unused pack of pencils and other normal office supplies. "I suppose this means Takara visits on a regular basis . . ."

The kunoichi tried not to growl at the insinuation in his voice as she scribbled furiously down on the first notepad she could find with a pen from the desk as she flipped through the book. She didn't need to know about their target's private practices, didn't need another reason not to like the man, but it was hard with so much evidence mounting against him. A mistress was being kept, divorce papers were already written up, and all the while a vast business and hordes of money hung in the balance. Even thinking about what carnal pleasures were probably had on that very desk made her fingers stop momentarily as she bit her tongue. She shook her head, continuing to write date after date down. "I don't get it. How can he do this to her? She is his wife . . . or was."

"Not now, Sakura," Kakashi said softly as he gravitated towards the office door, keeping an eye out through a thin pane of glass as she worked. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss it once we're out of here."

"I know, but . . . this changes some things, doesn't it?"

"Not yet it doesn't. Done yet?"

"Almost . . . There. I got it-"

Before she could finish the sentence, the Copy nin waved at her wildly, whispering harshly. "Someone's coming!"

Her jade eyes widened. "Well . . . shit."

He looked again then lunged towards the wires. "It's Hiro! Move! Now!"

She ripped the papers from the notepad, stuffing them up her shirt quickly before putting the desk and the book back the way she found it. Kakashi stood under the vent opening waiting for her, yet, when Sakura passed the glass beside the door, she stopped. "That's . . ."

"What? This isn't the time-!"

"That's the king of clubs with Hiro, Mr. . . . Oh, I can't remember the name, but he's in my half of the deck!" Sakura beamed with a wide grin. "I remember him because when we were dancing at the party, he said he had a thing against pornography while he had his hand on my ass."

Kakashi glared at her. "And they're coming this way. Would you climb up already before we blow this mission?"

"But they're stopping to talk, I think-" she started to argue when the ninja grabbed her by the wrist, then around her waist, attempting to lift her off the ground. "Wait a moment!"

"No 'waits'. Go already," he ground through his teeth, lifting her up towards the vent. Sakura frowned, not fighting him even if she could have hauled herself up into the ceiling on her own. Her hands grabbed the edge of the vent, holding on as she glanced back down towards the shinobi. A flash of orange down the back of his pants caught her attention, and suddenly her mind clicked. The man, their king of clubs, didn't like Ero-sennin or the Icha Icha series. In fact, he rabidly opposed it, and quite vehemently told her that much when she mentioned it at the party. If he caught Hiro with a copy . . .

A slow grin spread over the kunoichi's face. It was a golden opportunity, one too good to miss. She let go of the vent and dropped back down. Kakashi gawked at her. "What are you-?"

His words stopped as he felt a tug at the back of his pants that made him jump, and suddenly, a familiar, comforting presence was gone. Orange flashed in her hands. His eye widened in panic. She had his book. The color drained from the Copy nin's face as she raced past him towards the desk. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Sakura giggled hysterically as she fumbled with the drawers. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

A second later, Kakashi loomed over her, tugging the book from her grasp. She fought back with a tight grip on the spine, not about to let him take it from her. "There isn't time! Gimme the book!"

"Never! That's MY book!"

"We're going to get caught! Let go!"

"No! This wouldn't be happening if you'd gone in the duct like I told you!"

"And miss this chance?! I am going to win this game, and your book is gonna help me!" Sakura strained, neither of their grips on the dirty literature breaking. "We can get it back later, now let go!"

"No! No! No!"

"Don't make me, Kakashi . . ." she threatened, blue chakra forming around one of her hands. "So help me I will deck you if you don't let go!"

He pulled on his eye-patch, almost uncovering the Sharingan. "Try me."

The kunoichi growled, about ready to let go of the book and hit her partner anyway when footsteps echoed closer to the door. There wasn't any time left. The ninja looked at the door in alarm and at the petite woman he was playing tug of war with over his book. Mission or book, mission or his book, mission or his precious book? Damnit, why did she make him have to choose?! If they failed this one, winning back the book or not wouldn't matter as Tsunade would kill them both. "Fuck," Kakashi cursed, letting go.

Before he could second-guess the decision, he turned away, moved around the desk, and jumped up into the vent. Sakura dropped the book into the drawer and rammed it shut again, taking the same route as the shinobi into the ceiling panels. He didn't bother helping her up, glaring as he lay across from her in the vent while she crawled through the hole. As soon as she was clear, he pulled on the wires, lifting the vent panel back in place and not a moment too soon. Just as the metal grate slid into its original position, the office door opened. As Hiro and the board member walked into the office, the kunoichi fished the nuts to the panel back out of her pocket, quickly screwing them in place and removing the wires with one ear open to the conversation below. The more they discussed business, the more Kakashi's frown deepened until she swore he was almost pouting. Stifling the laugh in her throat at his look was hard, especially when she tried to speak, nearly choking on her own voice. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like Sasuke on a bad hair day," she chirped as his pout worsened, making her snort giggles. "You're pouting, you know that?"

As soon as she pointed that out, the Copy nin's pout morphed into a grim line as he glared at her before turning back to the vent and watching intently. The conversation continued, dully enough, but his eye never left the desk where his book was, no matter how much their talk dragged on. Anticipation knotted up in her stomach, just waiting for Hiro to open the desk drawer to find the wrong book. For a moment, when their king of clubs turned to leave, Sakura thought her little prank had failed, especially from the smug look on Kakashi's face. She would never live it down if that fight was for nothing.

But then, Hiro piped up. "Hold on a moment. Let me check my calendar for next week," He said, opening the drawer as the man turned back and walked over.

Moments later, the vice-president pulled an orange book out of desk, looking at it in confusion as the board member's face turned a livid shade of red. "Hiro-san! Is that your book?!"

The Copy nin's dark eye bugged out, fighting down a choking gasp. Inner Sakura broke out the confetti, crowing in victory. One moment the book was in the hands of Jun's shocked husband, and the next it was being held aloft by the irate business man. "It isn't mine! I swear! I've never seen it before in my life!" Hiro shouted, deeply shocked.

"It certainly looks well used!"

The kunoichi's hand clamped over her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter as the ranting continued below. "I have seen this . . . this filth before, and I know very well that it is the work of a very depraved individual and consumed by those obsessed with the pleasures of the flesh!"

"But I swear, it isn't-!"

"Do not deny it, Hiro-san! I know this is either yours, or that demon woman Takara's! I have been putting up with your scandalous behavior with her in the hopes that you would show some discretion in your affairs like a proper man! Yet you pollute this office with pornography! This is unfathomable, intolerable!"

"But-!"

"Don't! I will not help you in ruining this company any further so long as you propagate this . . . this-!" the man stopped shaking the orange book and looked at it, as if his infuriated glare alone could set it aflame. Suddenly, he opened the cover and clenched a hand over a few delicate pages. They ripped right out of the binding with a horrendous tearing noise. Kakashi's mouth dropped open in shock, giving a pained gasp that descended into a whine as another set of pages were torn out. The man didn't stop there in turning the offending book to shreds, tearing the already trashed paper into even smaller pieces and throwing them into the air. The Copy nin whimpered pathetically, wincing and fighting down pained sounds as his beloved book was destroyed before his sight by the ranting idiot, each word punctuated with another loud rip. "This horrible, filthy, disgusting, degrading, perverse, obscene, wretched, garbage!"

As a final insult, he took the spine of the book in both hands and tore the binding in two. Kakashi clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from wailing, the sound coming out as a miserable mewling whine instead. His dear book was no more, the remains thrown in the trash with a careless toss. "Good day, Hiro-san, and good riddance!"

With that, the man stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him as Hiro looked on in shock. Slowly, he got up, scratching his head as he left once again. "But it isn't even mine . . ."

Sakura couldn't keep it to herself anymore as both hands covered her mouth to stop from roaring in laughter, yet the sound of her snickering and snorting came out anyway. This was better than she thought, infinitely better. The image of the man ripping apart her partner's dirty little book would be forever engraved in the back of her mind now, and would she ever love remembering it. No way would she'd ever let the Copy nin live this down. And yet, her humor died an agonizing death as she looked up to see the shinobi staring at her.

The look on his face was one he usually reserved for enemies that were about to approach a sudden and painful end delivered by the hands of one of Konoha's deadliest ninjas. It was a look designed to intimidate and warn of impending doom that was made all the more horrific with employment of the Sharingan, yet the growing snarl on Kakashi's uncovered lips substituted just as well. Suddenly, Sakura wasn't too sure she'd live to tease him about anything. "You destroyed my book . . ." he growled in a low, dangerous tone.

Her stomach flip-flopped. "I didn't destroy it. He did. I just put it there . . . sort of."

"You stole my book and put it there knowing it would be in harm's way . . ."

Slowly, the kunoichi began to crawl backwards through the metal duct as he advanced forward. "I thought he'd just throw it in the trash, not rip it to itty-bitty pieces!"

Kakashi winced at the memory, and then crawled after her faster. "That was a first edition of Icha Icha Paradise, Volume One, that Ero-sennin signed himself. I don't have another . . . and you got it ripped in two!"

"I'm sorry? Can't you get Jiraiya to sign another?" Sakura tried to plead with him while coming to an abrupt stop, her back hitting the shaft's wall at a corner. The angry look on the Copy nin's face only grew the closer he got. "It isn't the same as a first edition, Sakura."

Her heart beat faster, looking around the bend for an escape route. Laughing nervously, a half-hearted grin twitched up the side of her mouth, "It was kind of funny though. You should have seen the look on your face when-"

He snarled. "Sorry isn't good enough! It isn't funny either since that was my book!"

"But . . . on the plus side . . . I'm already one ahead of you . . ."

The pitch-black darkness of his eye narrowed to a fine, deadly point. ". . . I'll kill you . . ."

Sakura squeaked, taking off down the vent shaft as he pounced forward in rage.

* * *

"Well, I feel that I have contributed much to this company. If you look over last quarter, I was the one responsible for negotiating our dealings with the Kadigawa group in the Land of Water, which brought a five percent profit in a period of-" the well-dressed man in the stiff metal chair blinked and glanced upwards at the ceiling. "Did you hear something?"

The shadow clone of one Hatake Kakashi shook his head at the man. "No, I didn't hear anything."

But, he had. He would have to be deaf not to hear the frantic scratching above him that only seemed to get closer and louder. "You don't hear anything, do you, Sakura?"

The pink-haired woman seated next to him, another clone, stared blankly ahead, then shook her head. "No, nothing at all."

As soon as the words passed her lips, a metallic crash sounded above them, requiring every ounce of their self-control not to wince at the noise. Their interviewee, on the other hand, bolted upright from his chair straight to his feet. "You had to have heard that! What in the hell was that?!"

Yet, the noise had stopped as the man still glanced suspiciously upwards. The two clones looked at each other in a silent exchange of information before the silver-haired one smiled brightly with a happily creased eye. "Well, Jun-san did say that she was getting her office checked . . . for mice."

"But how, how could-?"

"It must be the mice," Kakashi said, fixing the fake smile on his face while pointing back to the seat. "We really should continue. There are a lot of people for us to see today."

Looking at the pair skeptically, the man took his seat again with trepidation. "Yes . . ."

"The Kadigawa group?" Sakura prompted him when she noticed that the man looking at the ceiling times now and then. "You were saying."

"Oh . . ." he looked up one last time, and briefly wondered about the size of those mice, before becoming fixated on the woman's lovely green eyes again. "Right . . ."

* * *

Sakura's elbows and knees banged on the metal as she crawled as fast as she could with the Copy nin scrambling behind her. They were making enough noise to wake the dead, which couldn't be anything good. He couldn't be serious about wanting to kill her. It was just one stupid book out of the entire library of Icha Icha books he owned! Yet, as the kunoichi took one second to glance over her shoulder to see the wild, violent gleam in his dark eye, she wasn't about to chance being wrong by being caught by him. Despite how fast and loudly she moved through the shafts, Kakashi gained on her suddenly, a hand grabbing her ankle and dragging her down with a squawk. Moments later, he was on top of her and roughly rolling her over. Disoriented, Sakura didn't even realize that she lay on her back until she looked up to see a shock of silver hair above her, hands shaking her shoulders. "You did that on purpose!"

She struggled to push him off, legs and arms flailing. "Of course I did! And it worked! There's no way he'll vote for Hiro now, so it worked! Would you get off of me?!"

"No! Not 'til I'm finished making you pay for sacrificing my book!" Kakashi growled, almost sounding possessed as he leveraged his weight on her struggling body. Sakura's open hand smashed into his face until the top of his head banged into the top of the shaft. He fought back and grappled her wrists as she twisted under him, yet remained unsuccessful in pinning her down completely. She growled and grunted, not about to let him win as she fought the Copy nin in a near match, like one of the pointless, endless wrestling spars Sasuke and Naruto used to engage in, and still did occasionally. "It's just a stupid book, you pervert! You can live without it!" she threw back at him, arms straining to keep from being stuck.

"Like hell I will! You're not getting away until you say you're sorry!"

"I already did say I was sorry, moron! Didn't you hear me the first time?!"

"It doesn't count!"

"Childish! You're so childish!"

"It doesn't count because you didn't mean it!" Kakashi roared in her face, close enough that she could breathe in each word. Sakura froze stiff, a chill creeping over her. Green eyes widened as she looked up into his, suddenly very much afraid. He wasn't kidding around like she thought. He was angry enough over the stupid book that he just might kill her, or really hurt her at least, if she pushed back. Her heart leapt up into her throat, sticking to her voice. "I'm . . . I'm sorry," she whispered, going limp as he pressed down on top of her.

The blinding rage in the Copy nin's eyes faltered at her words, yet he still kept her held down as his panting breath slowly evened back out. For a long moment, he searched her face, taking in the mix of fear and adrenaline in her jade eyes, the flush of her cheek, the sheen of sweat on her skin, the quickness of her breath, and parted pink lips. Unconsciously, she licked her lips, and the flash of tongue made the shinobi pinning her blink, twice, before she caught her lower lip between her front teeth. His mind promptly stuck on that image, playing it over in his head like a broken record that kept skipping back to the same groove over and over again. The only thought that actually occurred to him was that the action of biting her lip actually made the young woman under him look both twelve again and sexy beyond her years.

The silence between them was odd, to say the least, as Kakashi seemed frozen stiff while staring at her. Sakura blinked in return, her mind tumbling over that fact. Yes, he was staring at her and her mind wasn't imagining it. He was also pressed against her close enough that his hip bones dug into her thighs while his chest mashed into hers. It actually didn't feel too bad except for the weight over her stomach making it harder to breathe, taking in shallow gasps of air. His mouth dropped open as a subtle change was made in his breathing along with his heartbeat. She could feel it in their proximity as his eye stayed on her intently.

Suddenly, it occurred to the kunoichi that he probably wasn't going to move off of her, not until the spell he seemed to be under broke, figuratively. "Um . . ." she trailed off, ducking slightly to catch his eye. "Do you mind getting off me now?"

His dark eye blinked at her stupidly, his body still frozen. Uncomfortable, Sakura shifted her hips, and suddenly the playback in his head broke with one very obvious fact being screamed at him. He was lying on top of his partner. He was lying on top of his beautiful partner while being pressed very intimately against her body, so close, in fact, that he could feel beneath her pants to the ridge of elastic around the legs of her panties. He could feel her panties.

Kakashi sprung up from her and backwards so quickly that his head banged into the top of the vent.

Slowly, Sakura slid out from under the cringing ninja's body, propping herself up on her elbows to watch the show of the Great Copy Nin of Konoha try to rub away the instant headache he received for his own stupidity. The sight made the kunoichi grin as well as arch both eyebrows in curiosity. He groaned in both pain and misery, not daring to raise his eye to look at her since that was what got him in trouble in the first place. How could he stare at her like that?! She was his partner, his friend, not one of the women in his books. So he had done it before, but never to her face and never while lying on top of her! He was actually lying on top of her, watching her lick her lips. The ninja groaned again, tempted to bang his head into the metal vent on purpose to clear the image now ingrained in his mind.

She couldn't help but laugh softly, fighting down even louder laughter when Kakashi finally looked up at her. "I am totally willing to forget this ever happened, from the attempted murder to the attempted molestation."

His eye widened in alarm and Sakura couldn't keep it in any more, bursting out in silly laughter. She crumpled back down to the bottom of the vent, covering her mouth with both hands in some semblance of attempting to keep it under control. Even her inner self was dying of laughter. Watching his partner shatter into a fit of humor, the panic in the shinobi died off, and he frowned more and more the longer she took to return to normal. He should have known she was just joking. Still, that thought didn't make him feel any better as he curled up in the vent, waiting. "Are you done making fun of me yet?"

The kunoichi giggled, propping herself up again to look at him. "I don't know. Are you done being a sourpuss yet?"

His frown didn't budge a fraction of an inch. "This never happened."

Her grin only widened. "The book incident never happened either."

Kakashi's frown held as his eye narrowed again. "That did happen, and you owe me a replacement."

"You have probably five more copies at home," Sakura sighed. "It's not my fault you packed the special edition one."

"Well, I never expected you to steal it and put it in the way of a flaming hypocrite with a severe hatred towards adult literature."

"Shinobi rule number twenty-five: a shinobi shows no emotion for the sake of a mission."

"Kakashi rule number three: always look underneath the underneath," he muttered with another glare at her. "What exactly do you see underneath my expression?"

She sighed, again, even if it sounded partially like a groan. "That you're not going to give this up until I replace your stupid book?"

The happily creased eyelid and cheesy grin on his face said what words could not. Sakura frowned, not entirely pleased that her partner was silently insisting on his way, especially after the sheer brilliance of her victory. Her nails tapped rhythmically on the metal under her hand in annoyance. In the back of her mind, the way he had stared at her popped up as well. Why did he look at her like that in the first place? While it wasn't unnerving or entirely unpleasant to have the Copy nin's undivided attention, it made her curious. His face had been unreadable as ever except for the slack jaw, his dark eye stupidly blank and droopy as ever. Yet, she knew Kakashi, and just knew that something had misfired in the back of mind to keep him staring that long. He hadn't even stared at Takara that long the night before . . .

At that thought, the kunoichi's tapping fingernails stopped. That had to be it. There was no other explanation for his behavior recently. It was the only reason that could exist. He stared at her and other women more because after so many years, the books suddenly weren't enough. He looked because he wanted to look, a need she bet he hadn't felt in ages, and without his damned porn as a distraction, he didn't have a choice now but to look. From the way he had stopped looking at her, she just knew she was right. For once, Sakura knew she was right. A malevolent grin spread over her face. "You're horny, aren't you?"

Kakashi made a noise halfway between as flustered gasp and a choke, coughing instead and covering his mouth to conceal the growing blush across his cheeks. "Excuse me?"

"It's why you're so out of it without your Icha Icha fix, isn't it? You use it to cope with your . . . 'urges'," Sakura purred, the word rolling off her tongue more seductively than she intended and than he wanted to hear. "Come on. You can tell me."

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't need . . . I am not . . . Stop it, Sakura. You've pissed me off enough for one day," he grumbled, beginning to crawl back towards her. "Move it. It's time we got out of here."

Yet, the kunoichi knew denial and misdirection when she heard it. She rolled over slowly to her hands and knees, glancing back over her shoulder all the while to watch as Kakashi's eye dropped outof her view. He had to be in denial, there was no other explanation. She crawled through the vents anyway, hearing the ninja right behind her. "If you don't need them, really, then why is it so important that I replace it?"

"Because it's the principle of it: you got it destroyed, you have a responsibility to make it up to me."

"But it's not like you need it today, do you?" Sakura asked, stopping at a corner to look back. The Copy nin stopped as well, seeming to be debating that very thing himself as his thoughts flickered through his eye. His mind divided itself on that question, one side contesting that he needed Icha Icha, badly, if only to prevent another episode similar to the one a few minutes ago, while the other side was persuaded by her reasoning, that he didn't need the book or any dirty book quite so immediately. And if it shut his partner up from insisting about his 'urges', all the better, right?

Kakashi looked up to see her smiling at him, a gleam of mischievousness and intelligence in her green eyes that made them sparkle in the dim light. He could feel the trap in her words being set right under him, and all he could do was walk right in. "You're right. I don't need it right away, but you will be replacing my book . . . eventually."

A beam shot across Sakura's face of epic proportions, and the ninja knew he was done for. "Alright, but on one condition."

"You are in no position to be setting terms. It's my book that got trashed in circumstances arranged by your hands," he argued, not about to let her forget that fact.

She laughed softly, wiggling slightly as if the noise was reverberating through her. "Don't be silly. I will pay of course, but . . . you have to prove me wrong first, that you don't need Icha Icha to keep yourself in check."

"I told you already, I don't need-" the ninja argued, increasingly aggravated by the woman that was supposed to be his partner and friend. "What ever gave you this stupid idea, anyway? You of all people should know my sense of self-control is rock solid."

"As stony as your personality and expression is, even stone cracks under enough pressure, Kakashi," she said, sounding rather philosophically thoughtful. "If you can keep it in your pants for the length of the rest of this mission, I will not only buy you another book, but any ones you missed being released while embarking on this grand adventure."

He grinned in spite of the cynicism, barely able to keep the chuckle from his voice. "You have to get Jiraiya to sign them too, personally."

Sakura's head whipped towards him, pink braid slapping her across the face. "Are you mad? If I go to him myself, he'll be all over me asking for pictures. It's why Tsunade-shishou always sent Shizune-senpai to that pervert if she needed something."

"Still hasn't stopped Ero-sennin from visiting our dear Hokage when she least wants it, or using her as 'inspiration'."

"You noticed it too, huh?"

"I'm not Icha Icha's number one fan for nothing, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, grinning again as his eye creased. "Do we have a deal?"

The kunoichi sighed, shaking her head in resignation. "Alright, I'll forsake my modesty and get that insufferable pervert to sign them too. Happy? Do we have a deal?"

He nodded. "We have an agreement."

She grinned, finally moving down the vent corridor. If her theory was right, something would happen before the month was up. Somehow, she just knew it. For all the years they'd been together, Kakashi had never shown sexual interest in anything but paperbacks, and never went anywhere without at least one of them somewhere on him. If he didn't cave now without those books around to sate his needs, then she deserved to foot the bill of replacement. Yet, as they crawled closer to the vent opening they had climbed through earlier, it occurred to Sakura that if she was right, what woman would he choose to cave to?

The kunoichi stopped and suddenly looked back. His head was down, dark eye hooded in its usual droopiness until he realized she had stopped moving. The ninja looked up, and for a moment, she swore she saw his eye glance over at her ass before meeting her eyes. "What is it?" he asked, sounding sincere enough in his ignorance to not know he had looked at her butt.

Sakura turned away quickly to hide the blush on her face, crawling along faster. "Nothing."

If Kakashi suspected that something was up with his partner, he didn't say anything. He had learned long ago that it was better for her comfort and his sanity if he didn't question the state of mind of a woman, especially one as easily emotionally muddled as Haruno Sakura. Besides, if he did open his mouth at that moment, the fact that he had looked at her rear-end waving practically right in his face was sure to come out. He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "This is going to be a very long mission . . ."

* * *

He was staring at her again, and it made Sakura smile.

She could feel the ninja's dark eye on the curve of her neck, again, followed by the creaking of his chair as he leaned back and slouched heavily. He had been staring at her every time she looked away from him or down at the spread of papers on the table mixed among the half-eaten plates. Whenever she looked up, his eye seemed find something else to occupy his attention, including their waitress, the other female patrons of the restaurant, the women walking in the snow as they passed their window seat; practically anything female and in a skirt.

No one in the modern-looking eatery seemed to even notice them or the ninja's glances. The people sitting at the tables around them were much too absorbed in their food or conversation to mind. How could they not even look at their surroundings, the black, grey, and white architecture, the glass tabletops on wooden legs, the steel chairs with red vinyl seats? No matter where they went in Snow, she still had to rein in the urge to gawk at everything. It was so busy, and modern, and free of clutter and uselessness, completely different from what she knew of Konohagakure. Yet, the atmosphere of the city seemed to fit the weather: cold. The only warm thing her eyes could find was her partner, even as she knew he was still staring at her. Sakura couldn't help but smile, fighting down an even wider grin. "Are you distracted? Did you even hear what I just asked?"

"You asked if we were going to hit targets together or solo, and I said solo. Didn't you hear what I just said? Aren't you the one who's distracted?"

Her green eyes rolled as she slumped over the table, elbow propping up her upturned hand and chin, "Kakashi, you keep looking at me when you think I don't notice, and if you're not looking at me, it's another female."

The Copy nin slumped in the chair, refusing to meet her gaze. "At least I'm just looking. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Yes, there was something wrong with the fact that his preferred staring target was her. As amusing as the habit was, it slowly sunk into the kunoichi that she couldn't figure out why she received his attention the most. The more she brewed on the how's and the why's of that question, the more she decided that she didn't want to know so long as it stopped. Sakura sighed. "You've been like this ever since we got out of that stupid vent and realized it was lunch. Just admit it already. You're completely useless without your 'adult literature'. If you're going to be like this for the rest of the mission, I'll take back that little challenge of mine, and buy your damned books."

"I'm not useless," Kakashi muttered, almost pouting.

She snorted in laughter, covering her mouth as she tried to continue. "Then if you're not useless, you've got that interested yet dumb look on your face. If you start giggling at me like you do over that book-"

"One, I do not giggle," he said with such a serious look on his face that she couldn't help but laugh a little. "And two, you cannot pull this holier-than-thou act with me. You are as much of a pervert as I am . . . for a woman."

The humor abruptly stopped, replaced with her own gravely serious look. "I am not a pervert, and nowhere in the league of yourself and Jiraiya."

"You still read Icha Icha, don't you?"

"Occasionally . . ." she admitted, wishing she hadn't from the amused grin on the Copy nin's uncovered face. For a moment, her heart clenched as the grin looked more like a smile, one of the rare ones he only seemed to flash when he was actually happy. Needling her generally made him happy too, but she never got to see those smiles with the interference of that infuriating mask. She was seeing it now, though, and it made her sit up straighter as her legs crossed under the table. "I only read them in the first place so that it might help me understand what makes you tick," Sakura said as her arms folding in her lap. "It hasn't helped much."

Kakashi's pale eyebrow quirked upwards in curiosity. "And that episode with Konohamaru doing the Sexy no Jutsu of Sasuke and Sai? What was that then? Primal reaction?"

A vein popped along the kunoichi's wide forehead. "That? You choose now to bring up that?"

"Answer the question. I want to know."

"I was sixteen. I'm sure I don't need to remind you what that time was like," Sakura sighed, crossing her arms over her chest instead. "I'm also sure I don't need to remind you of Naruto's reaction just moments before that to two girls together. If guys like that sort of thing, why can't girls? And besides, it's not like I am actively pursuing that form of porn or any porn in general, anyway."

"Why don't I believe you?"

She growled slightly in aggravation. "Because you're just being difficult by turning the topic onto me. The fact of the matter is that I still like guys, and you like women, but unlike you, I don't feel the compulsion to stare at members of the opposite sex, or read about sex, for that matter."

"Why do I still not believe you?"

The growling from the kunoichi only got louder, teeth grinding together, "You are one of the most troublesome men I've ever known."

"I like you a lot too, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said back, grinning ridiculously as his eye creased happily while she mussed her pink bangs in frustration. "If you're done now, we have a mission to plan and a game to sort out before the end of the day."

She sighed, slumped in defeat. "Talk then."

"All tasks are solo, but both of us will be there, the other acting as a witness just so that fair is fair and as back up just in case."

"Anything goes, right?"

"Right: ninjutsu, genjutsu, rumor-mongering to plain old prank-pulling, the object being to get the target board member-"

"Angry enough to never want to speak to Hiro again."

"Or expose Hiro-san's incompetence. Looking at what you got from his appointment book, he knows he's running even with Jun-san in the board vote because almost every work day, he seems to be having a meeting with someone on the board and on our list," Kakashi explained pointing at the papers spread before her. "Those will be our opportunities to strike."

Sakura looked at the schedule and the highlighted blocks. To make things easier to understand, her targets were colored in pink while her partner's were in bright yellow. She tried not to smirk at the color scheme, but couldn't help it. The spread of appointments were pretty even so that neither of them could pull ahead unless they failed a target or worked overtime to take chance opportunities. Even if she was already one ahead of the Copy nin in her half of the deck, that didn't mean it would stay that way for long. Knowing Kakashi, he would be just as desperate as she was to win, if not more so. "Every opportunity counts, right?" she asked, nibbling on her lip thoughtfully. "So long as we got our witness?"

"Yes."

"How will we validate effective rumors?"

That was a good question, one that made the silver-haired shinobi ponder hard before coming up with a solution. "The secretaries."

"Huh?"

"A good office secretary will know exactly what her boss knows and thinks, so the witnessing one of us will ask the secretary of the target and validate that way. If it's convincing, it counts."

She smirked, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "With what I'm already thinking of doing to him, the rumors may spread on their own and work for me."

"Don't be too sure of that, Sakura. Each one of these people has different triggers from the information we got at the party. It's just figuring out the boiling point for each of them."

The kunoichi nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Won't it be a bit obvious to him if we're always around him when something bad happens?"

"It's why every shinobi has to pass the henge jutsu. Use it, creatively if you must."

"Point taken," Sakura said with a sigh. That seemed like just about it, no more questions filtering through her head on their little game. Yet, something still nagged at her after what they had seen in Hiro's office, the divorce papers. She sunk a little in her chair, glancing sideways at the small amount of noodles left on her deep plate of white porcelain. Idly, she picked up her chopsticks and nudged them into the cold food. He was going to get rid of Jun completely, and their client didn't even know about it. For some reason, it made her heartsick to think of the older woman's shock, if and when she found out. If Kakashi was right, and she did still love her husband, the mere existence of those legal documents could break what little was left of her heart. She stabbed at the noodles, fighting down a worried sigh. "Something wrong?" he asked, finally noticing that she was playing with her food.

"We haven't talked about what we're going to do about those papers."

"Which papers?"

"Which ones do you think? Don't tell me you've forgotten about them already?" Sakura asked, looking up at him as she hunched over the table. "We should tell her, if only to save her the shock."

Kakashi shook his head right away. "No, warning her won't help. All it will do is make her lose hope. If she loses hope, then what we've been trying to do for nearly a week now will be for nothing."

"But why not? He's drawn up divorce papers. Why would he do that unless he truly believed his marriage was over?"

"Takara could have pressured him into it. He hasn't even signed them himself yet, and he hid them in an out of the way place. It's a sign of hesitation, just like the feeling I got from him last night."

"I'm the one that's supposed to be getting feelings about people, Kakashi, not you, and I'm still not convinced that there is any love left between them," Sakura said with a shake of her head, dropping the chopsticks with a clink. "Why? I don't understand why you want something to be there to save?"

He frowned, slumping over the table himself to rest on both elbows. "Because for once I want my mind to be wrong in analyzing what I see over what I feel. Every other situation we've been in was very clear about what needed to be done and why. I don't want this to be some petty squabble between two adults that should know better."

"Just because a person is an adult doesn't make them mature. Look at us for example. We fight all the time like a couple of genin."

"No, Sakura, we haven't really fought, because we're friends. We respect each other too much to really hurt one another."

"But if Hiro does love her, why does he keep hurting her like this? He took vows to have and to hold. He proposed to her first. Now he's the one that wants to end what he meant in taking those vows, and over some blonde slut, too. If that isn't petty, I don't know what is."

The frown on Kakashi's face didn't move as he silently agreed with her. Maybe he was being hopeful for nothing. At face value, the situation between Hiro, Jun, and Takara was exactly as Sakura said it was. The only things binding husband and wife together still was a failed marriage and rings that, for some reason, neither of them wanted to remove. He kept his eye down on the table, not daring to look up at her. "You're right. Love is selfish and painful to endure, especially when it's over and there's nothing you can do about it. It's called heartbreak for a reason."

Sakura's green eyes slowly slid downwards as well. "You're righ,t too. I . . . I don't think anything I've felt so far has been what you described. Even when I thought I loved Naruto, it didn't feel like the pain everyone talks about with breakups, just disappointment . . . Every time, it just felt like disappointment . . ."

"You're lucky then. Disappointment is easier to get over than loss."

She looked up, suddenly curious by what he meant. In four years, they hadn't once talked seriously about past loves or even failed relationships. She always did wonder if the Copy nin had loved someone before she knew him. The only thing she knew about was how his teammates had died, one right in front of him, but she didn't hear the story from him. Yet, the pained look in his dark eye said more than all those years of avoiding the subject had. "Who was she?" Sakura asked softly.

Kakashi blinked, the pain gone while finally looking up at her. "Huh?"

"You were thinking of someone. Who?" she asked again. "Was she the one you-"

"No, I didn't love her," he said quickly, not avoiding her question for once, "And she loved someone else that wasn't me."

"Oh . . ." the kunoichi whispered. "I'm sorry . . ."

"Don't be sorry. You don't know everything about me."

Sakura smirked, snorting softly. "As your self-proclaimed closest friend for four years, you think I would know enough about you by now."

"No one ever knows another person completely. If we did, then perhaps this world wouldn't need shinobi to solve all of its problems and conflicts."

A faint smile crossed her mouth at the thought, turning slowly into a toothy, wide smile the more his take on human relations sunk in. "Why do you always go philosophical on me?" she asked, beginning to grin. "Can't you ever say for once that people are just stupid when it comes to other people?"

A smile of his own started on Kakashi's face before he batted it back down, standing up instead. He reached across the table, grabbing the papers and stacking them back together before folding them up and putting them back into an inner pocket of his black coat. "Fine then: people are stupid. Happy?" he asked, smirking.

She giggled, nodding as she stood up as well. The ninja didn't wait for her, leaving her by the table before she could even blink. Sakura stamped a foot on the tiled floor, yelling across the crowded restaurant. "Wait up, you cheapskate! You're not leaving me with the bill this time!"

Despite the shouting, the Copy nin didn't turn around once.

Quickly tossing more than enough money on the table to cover their meal and the tip, the pink-haired young woman threw on her coat and hurried after him. Nearly colliding with the doors, she bumped into a man who was coming in, looking up on instinct while chirping an apology. "Oh sorry!"

The man smiled at her, flashing dimples as well as a pair of pretty blue eyes. "That's ok. Let me help you."

He held the door open, and Sakura stared at the stranger, quickly sliding out into the snow. She couldn't help but notice how handsome he was, dumbly watching as he waved back and walked into the restaurant without another word to her. Her eyes followed him through the glass doors, watching as he got a seat by himself. She was so caught up in staring that she didn't notice anything else until a hand tapped her shoulder. "See something you like?"

Caught red-handed, the kunoichi spun around to see Kakashi towering over her, chuckling to himself under the wrappings of a red scarf. A crimson blush of both embarrassment and fury spread over her cheeks. "I wasn't interested. He was just being nice, which is more than I can say for you!"

The silver-haired man still chuckled, walking away from her. "And you said you didn't feel any compulsion to stare at members of the opposite sex."

"I do not!" she screeched in protest with a stomp of her foot that sent the snow flying in all directions. His laughter only got a little louder the more she denied it, leaving her muttering to herself. "At least I didn't stare at his butt . . . much . . ."

* * *

Ino sighed, tossing her binoculars onto the table as they clattered beside her plate. This was an absolute waste of her time. What the hell was Genma thinking by leaving her there to watch those two? Nothing had happened, and as far as she was concerned, nothing would happen. After about a week of watching them and listening to them talk non-stop about the past and their mission, the blonde had begun to see the light of the pair's boringness, and the dwindling of her hope for her friend. No wonder she couldn't get another date after hooking up with Kiba. What man would want her when she stuck to that old pervert Kakashi like glue on paper? And all they did together was talk, talk, talk. Sakura didn't even talk to her like that in all their conversations.

The entire situation befuddled and confused the kunoichi. How could her best friend, who so often seemed like a hopeless romantic, be willingly saddled by a sarcastic, jaded, practically ancient ninja and not know it? At least Sakura seemed happy with him, which was more than she could say for her past entanglements of the heart. Maybe there was hope after all of sparks flying . . . with the right amount of ignition. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice anything else in the noise of the fast-food restaurant she sat in, at least not until a roll of paper swatted lightly at the back of her head. She whipped around on her high stool while holding her ponytail defensively and looked up. Immediately, her blue eyes narrowed. "Damnit, Genma. Are you trying to scare the crap out of me!?"

"Ew," he grumbled, taking a seat at the counter as well on her left side. "I didn't need to know that."

She glared at him. "I am not in the mood to hear you try to be funny at the moment."

"That time of the month?"

For once, she barely managed to suppress her anger at the brown-haired shinobi for one of his usual witty retorts. Still glaring, she picked up the binoculars again and shoved them into her coat pocket. "If it was the time for my period, you would know it."

"And how would I know that? I'm not a mind-reader when it comes to women."

Her blue eyes rolled upwards, grumbling while continuing to stare darkly across the street. "You would know because I'd rip your balls off and shove down your throat."

The wince that flashed across the man's face was worth it, even if Ino knew she'd never do such a thing, raging hormone-induced or not. "Bitter much?" Genma questioned out loud, letting the threat roll right over him. "You'd be more attractive, I think, without the wall of man-hate emanating all around you."

"I don't hate men. I just hate you," she clarified, finally turning towards him on her stool. He looked at her, the toothpick hanging from his mouth in a droop, and she sighed. They had been fighting for all of the morning when they should have been focused on the mission, and it was beginning to wear the kunoichi out. What he had said the night before ate at her, twisting her opinion of the man back to what she thought of him originally, a selfish, self-proclaimed ladies man that loved nothing but himself and the shinobi way. And she hated him for it. She didn't want to hate Genma, though, yet he made it so difficult to like him. If he had just one soft spot that wasn't completely banal or cynical, then maybe, just maybe, she could have tolerated him. "You really do hate me, don't you?" he questioned, crossing his arms as he turned away from her glance. "You don't have to pretend that you like me at all."

For a moment, Ino softened as she watched him move to lean over the counter that ran across the entire wall of glass windows, propping up his chin in both hands while chewing on the toothpick thoughtfully. He looked sad, yet the word didn't seem to do the look on his face justice. It was more than just sadness in his brown eyes, like he regretted something he couldn't change. The look made the kunoichi very curious about her would-be companion, about what really made him tick. There had to be more to the man than what he showed everyone else, right? "Did you find out anything useful?" the blonde asked, pointedly bypassing the previous statement and joining him in watching the restaurant across the street in spite of their targets having left.

"Yes, actually I did," he said blandly. "They actually had a conversation about sex."

Ino's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"You did notice that Kakashi was staring at her every time she looked away, right?"

"Of course I did," she sniffed, sounding mildly offended. "What kind of blind idiot do you think I am?"

"Something must have happened because they argued over why he kept staring, and at one point he smiled. That man almost never smiles. Grin? Sure. Smirk? Of course. Frown? All the damned time. But something she said made him smile," Genma explained, waving the tip of his toothpick up and down in distraction. "Whatever it was, I'll be damned if I know why, but I got the feeling he's beginning to like her."

"He should like her. Not only is she his old student, but they've been stuck together like glue for years. How oblivious are you?"

"That isn't what I meant. I mean like her as in he likes looking at her, a physical attraction. Anytime I've known him to look at a beautiful woman, one of those books of his always comes out not too soon afterwards, but . . ."

Ino grinned. "His book didn't appear once the whole meal."

"Kakashi isn't one to misplace his belongings. So either that book got taken or something, or . . ."

"He just doesn't need it anymore."

"Maybe they need less help than we think," Genma muttered. "Something is going on that we haven't figured out yet, or else chance is finally conspiring in our favor and against old one-eye. I say we give them another week. If nothing happens by then, we intervene."

"But how?" Ino asked, sliding off the stool and onto her boot-clad feet, "It'll blow our reason for being here if we just walk up to them and say, 'Oh, we've been invading your privacy for the past two weeks, and really think you two should get together. And by the way, Tsunade-sama wins a bet for once if you do.' Like that will go over well."

"Do you know the definition of the word 'subtle'? Or 'subterfuge'?"

"Do you know the definition of the word 'friendship'? You're not supposed to lie to your friends," she shot back, buttoning her longcoat back up. "Or does lying come more easily to you than it does to me?"

A stern frown formed on Genma's face as he pulled the toothpick from his mouth and jabbed it into her leftover food. He then slid off his stool as well, facing her with his hands shoved in his pockets. "I lie when it is required of me, and so do you. You're no better than I am."

Ino's mouth opened to yell at him, then quickly snap shut. He was right. She didn't have any ground to stand on to argue, and how she hated that he was right. The blonde kunoichi spun on her heel, walking away from him. "I'm finished arguing with you. We have a job to do."

She walked out into the snow. She didn't even know if he had followed her or not until she looked up to see his arm above her head, holding the door open for her. Stunned, she slowly moved out of the way, and then down when he joined her on the busy sidewalk. With a soft exhale, Ino realized that she had misjudged him again. If he could hold a door open for a woman without having to be asked, maybe he wasn't so bad after all. When Genma started down the street, she shuffled after him and stayed by his side, not lifting her eyes from the white crunch of ice and snow underfoot. As they came to the first sidewalk and stopped, he finally asked her the question she had been dreading. "Why are you so cold?"

"Because there's snow all around us . . ."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it . . . You could have been one of Kakashi's students seeing as how you dodge questions and comments so easily . . ."

"What did you mean, then?" Ino ask, closing her eyes.

"Why are you so cold to me?" Genma asked, continuing on after a long, silence-filled moment. "I know I'm not a great guy, but I'm not that horrible. I'm not the monster that you must think I am. I don't want to fight with you anymore, and I don't want you to hate me either. Why can't we just be friends?"

". . . Have you ever been just friends with a woman before?"

The skeptical tone in her voice gave away her opinion of him, and the shinobi gave a bitter chuckle. "No, I always seem to fuck it up somehow. Doesn't mean I won't stop trying, though . . . It's just I haven't found a woman yet that wants to put up with me."

"If you were less of a womanizing smartass . . . I suppose I could tolerate you more . . ." Ino admitted, glancing toward him slightly enough to see his double-take. Slowly, whether she saw it or not, he grinned, pulling another toothpick out of his coat pocket and putting it in his mouth. "I could do that, but that might be a bit hard . . ." Genma mumbled while rolling the toothpick to the corner of his mouth. "I can't control it sometimes, especially if it's funny and if it makes you mad . . . you're actually kind of cute when you're mad. Your nose scrunches up, your eyes narrow until you're almost squinting, and you pout. I kind of like pouting lips."

A fist jabbed into his side, not hard, but not a friendly tap either as he nearly inhaled his toothpick in surprise. "I do not pout . . ." came a tense grumble from the blonde, "and I'm not easily amused either, especially when I'm being picked on. I don't like being picked on, or people picking on others . . ."

"I try to be funny, and often I'm not . . ."

"I'm very competitive; it keeps me motivated."

"I have an oral fixation, like you didn't know. Women say I am very good with my mouth."

Ino blushed, half-smiling before squashing the bad thought that sprung it up. "I don't want to discuss sex with you . . . seeing as there's someone else I like . . ."

"Who probably doesn't know you even exist . . ."

"He knows," she said defensively before caving slightly with a sigh. "He just doesn't know how I feel . . . I'm not as much of an expert when it comes to romantic relationships as everyone thinks."

"That makes two of us. I'm not as much of a sex god as every woman seems to think I am."

Ino did a double-take as the brown-haired ninja chuckled deeply, grinning with the toothpick clenched between his teeth. She frowned. "I don't believe you."

"Only one way to find out."

She looked away, holding up her head proudly. "You're right. You're not very funny . . . when you're trying."

As she started to walk across the street when the light changed, he grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks and turning her to face him before she knew what happened. He smiled at the long-haired blonde and her feet froze to the pavement as he extended his hand towards her, "I'm Shiranui Genma. I don't think we've ever been properly introduced before. Pleased to meet you . . ."

She blinked, blue-eyes wide in surprise, and then slowly placed her hand in his. "Ino, Yamanaka Ino. Pleased to meet you too, Genma."

He smiled, shaking her hand. "This is going to be the beginning of a wonderful partnership . . . if we don't attempt to kill each other in the process."

Ino smiled back. "I had the perfect place picked out for your corpse, too . . . but I agree. This does feel like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 06 of Dirty Deeds, Prove Me Wrong. 


	6. Prove Me Wrong

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 6 – Prove Me Wrong

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

"Hatake-san? Hatake-san! Hatake-san!"

It wasn't every day that Kakashi could hear his surname being shouted across the busy lobby of a giant corporation's office building. Usually he was called something else: Kakashi, Kakashi-sensei, sensei, one-eye, just about anything but Hatake-san. The unusualness of hearing his last name made the ninja immediately stop and turn towards the sound of the voice. Sakura's voice also stopped in mid-sentence, turning too when her partner stopped. He noticed right away the woman running towards them with an awkward gait in high heels, and the hand on the kunai in his coat pocket relaxed. The silver-haired man visibly calmed down as well, muttering, "Just some secretary."

The green eyes of his pink-haired companion studied the woman, keeping her expression as even as possible. "That isn't just some secretary. She's Hiro's personal assistant, Kiko. I met her at the party. She's smart, friendly, and is worked like a dog by him. She's very much underpaid for what she does for him."

"So she's his personal slave, then?"

"She also hates Takara, too. I like her."

"Somehow, I doubt she'll get any further than being his personal slave, though."

And of course, she knew he was probably right in that observation. "The more I learn about this place and about her boss, the more I can't wait to cream him, get this job done, and go home, where things are normal," Sakura grumbled, folding her arms as her hips cocked to the side.

"Relatively normal," Kakashi added, sensing the waves of growing frustration coming off the young woman. "Simmer down. Let's see what she wants. This could be beneficial."

The heels that had been pounding noisily on the stone floor slowed to a halt until the woman, Kiko, stood before them, panting. "Ha-Hatake-san?"

"Yes?"

Slowly, she looked up after catching her breath and smiled wearily. It took much effort on Sakura's part not to laugh at the poor woman as she pushed her tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose before attempting to fix her frazzled brownish-red hair. "I've been looking all over for you. I didn't know you'd gone to lunch, and Jun-san's assistant knew nothing, and–"

"Well, you found us now . . ."

"Oh, right! Um, I'm Yamada Kiko, Minagawa-san's assistant. I was sent to find you as my boss would like to talk to you, right away."

His dark eye widened in surprise. A quick glance over at Sakura told him that she was equally in shock. What could Hiro want with them? He didn't need the paranoid warnings going off in his head to know that the request was fishy, very fishy. "I'm sorry. This is a bit sudden for me." Kakashi tried not to frown at the suspicions going round in his head. "We'll be there shortly, but . . . did he mention what this was about?"

"Oh, he just wanted to speak to you, sir, not Haruno-san. I think it was in reference to the party last night, and a conversation you had? I'm sorry if that's vague, but all he said was that it was about was last night, so I assumed, and–"

The shinobi smiled in fake gratitude, nodding as his eye creased. "Thank you. I think I know exactly what this is about. If you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way."

"Oh, of course! Thank you!" she smiled back in genuine happiness, quickly walking away from the pair as they stared at each other. From the arched eyebrows that rose halfway up her wide brow, Kakashi already knew the thoughts possibly running around the kunoichi's mind. "Do not say it, Sakura. I told you everything of importance last night, so don't even ask," he said while ushering her towards the elevators. "On the contrary to what I told the little mouse, I haven't the slightest idea what Hiro could want with me."

She burst out in a quick snort of laughter. "But I bet you can guess what the topic will be about, huh?"

"You never believe a word I say, do you?"

"Oh, I still trust you, Kakashi. Don't doubt that," Sakura said as they stood in front of the closed elevator doors. "What I don't believe is that you'll ever tell me everything that goes on in your head, just as I'm sure you'll never know completely what's going on in mine. We both have our secrets, after all."

A slight grin crossed the Copy Nin's face. "Alright. Wait for me, then."

"Don't I always?"

"Not always. Like that one time I told you to wait and you–"

Sakura smiled brightly, remembering exactly what mission he was referring to. "I charged in before the guy with the poisoned sword could skewer you from behind. You still owe me for that."

"I meant the time I told you to wait and you nearly killed the missing-nin we were trying to capture."

"It worked out anyway, didn't it?" she said with a nervous giggle in her voice. Kakashi sighed, shaking his head slowly. Somewhere in the four years they'd been together as partners, Sakura had begun to pick up some of his less desirable qualities, such as his knack for clinging to plausible deniability. The elevator doors slid open. Fighting down a grin, he reached up and ruffled her short, pink bangs, utterly destroying their carefully brushed appearance. The kunoichi squeaked, batting his hand away as he slid into the lift ahead of her, and pressed the button for the door to close. "Wait for me, Sakura-chan."

She scowled, finger-combing her hair back in place. "Be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

Her mouth opened to reply but the doors slid closed before she could say a thing. Standing still in the fast-pace of the corporate lobby, and all alone, a feeling crept along the pale skin of the young woman. Without Kakashi there, she felt aimless, and it made her hand cross over her abdomen and scratch her forearm through the heavy coat. "Now what am I going to do with myself?"

* * *

Throughout the long elevator ride up, a slowly building sense of paranoia settled over the ninja. What could Hiro possibly want to discuss? His assistant said it was about the night before at the party, but was that really it? It could have been as simple as an apology for his drunken misbehavior or as disastrous as finding out that they had broken into his office. Now that idea made Kakashi really paranoid. There was no way they could have been caught. It wasn't like Jiraiya wrote his name in the book; just simply, 'To my number one fan'. Somehow he doubted Hiro was connected or concerned enough to check serial numbers, either, but he didn't know enough about the man to know what he would and wouldn't do. Maybe he was more paranoid than he thought . . .

Before the silver-haired man could think up new scenarios in his head, the elevator doors slid open, beckoning him to step out. He walked into the small office lobby and right in front of another desk with another woman who wasn't Kiko, Hiro's assistant, but his secretary. He raised his hand in greeting, otherwise standing mute and motionless. She smiled pleasantly, then pointed to the wood door surrounded by narrow glass panes he had seen from the other side hours ago. "Hatake-san, I assume. Minagawa-san will see you now, please go right in."

Kakashi nodded and casually walked through the door into the office. An odd feeling of trepidation made him slowly scan the room before closing his only way out. Hiro sat hunched over in his chair, looking down at a pile of papers spread across the surface of an otherwise neatly kept desk. The man seemed oblivious to the opening of the door, and to just about everything else except the numbers before him, even the pair of reading glasses slowly sliding down his nose. At the clicking of the door latch, Hiro raised his dark brown eyes to look at the silver-haired man, pushing up his glasses in the process, and smiling only slightly. "Ah, I was wondering when they'd find you. Good to see you again, Hatake-san."

"Um, I thought I told you that Kakashi was–"

"I know, but . . . that's why I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible."

The ninja's brow furrowed for a moment in confusion as he stood slouched by the doorway. He didn't have the slightest idea what the dark-haired man meant by that. It didn't relieve the creeping sensation down the back of his spine that something was very wrong, either. Hiro motioned to an uncomfortable-looking wood and black leather-backed chair across from the desk. "Please, have a seat and I will explain."

Not having much of a choice, Kakashi sat down, but not as casually as usual. Something did feel wrong. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night. I may have said some things that could have given you the wrong impression," he said, hands neatly folded on the desk. "I may not have meant what I said. It's possibly why I shouldn't drink anymore."

His dark eye narrowed on the man across from him. What the–? This was why he got called here, to hear an apology and backpedaling? Why? Looking at Hiro, the shinobi could tell there wasn't a bit of sincerity in his words. From the way he didn't look directly at him, the way his thumbs kept shuffling, and the monotone drone to his voice, Kakashi knew he was being lied to, but why? "Why would you think I would have the wrong impression of you, Minagawa-san?" he asked, probing for a reason.

"You're only a temporary employee of this company, and you were hired by my wife . . . my ex-wife."

He kept his shock at the reference to Jun to himself, letting Hiro continue. "I know that you know about the board meeting at the end of the month. This is an important time for the future of this company, one way or another. Jun's father entrusted me to its survival over his daughter, or else he would not have put it in his will. She's hard to understand sometimes, isn't she?"

Kakashi's brow furrowed. "That tends to be a female's prerogative, to keep men guessing at what they really think."

"I know . . ." Hiro said with half a smile before sobering up to seriousness. "I know last night I must have seemed very unprofessional, and for that I apologize, but . . . I wanted you to know that above all I am devoted to Minagawa Eastern Trading, even before the women in my life."

"Why would you tell me this then? As you said, I'm only a temporary employee . . ."

"Because I know you will tell Jun everything I tell you."

Kakashi slumped back in the chair. Well, this at least proved that Hiro was not as dumb as he thought, unless Takara pointed it out to him, which was more than likely how he knew. Perhaps Sakura was right in that the mistress was a problem. The dark-haired man frowned. "I should have realized it sooner since Jun said she hired you. I know neither you nor Haruno-san are from around here. As well, how did you lose your left eye?"

"Accident on a job," the ninja said quickly.

"It must have been some dangerous job."

"Construction is like that, as I'm sure you know."

The frown on Hiro's face didn't lighten up at all. "Whatever the case may be, I want to be clear that I have moved on with my life. I loved Jun once, but things change. People change. Neither she nor I are the people we once were when we met. Things . . . happen in a relationship, things that cannot be changed. I cannot let her continue this way . . ."

His brow furrowed again, confused. "What do you mean? What has Jun-san done?"

"You've only ever heard her side of things, haven't you?"

Kakashi didn't answer, and his silence must have been enough of an indication for Hiro to continue. "Ever since her father died, Jun has let her heart rule over her head in her grief. She was brilliant before it all happened, the most cunning, intelligent woman I had ever known . . . Losing what would have been our children seemed to make her snap, and the loss of her father . . . The brilliance I loved about her was gone. I know she felt betrayed by me, which was wrong, but she was still president of this company. Each mistake she made was born out of her emotions and rage at me. She . . . she is the one that pushed me away first. How could I love her anymore when she selfishly blamed me for everything that went wrong? How could she think that I would–"

For once there was actual emotion in the vice-president's voice, and it wasn't what Kakashi expected. In that moment, Hiro sounded exactly like his wife, bitter and betrayed, and yet still in love with her. He must have realized his mistake as his eyes widened before he sunk back in his plush chair and exhaled. "The woman I loved no longer exists. Jun is unstable and bad for this company. You may not have seen it, but I have. I have to undo everything she's done or else it will go under . . . I cannot live with her anymore, though, if that happens. When I succeed her as president, I will have no choice but to put her away. She'll be comfortable enough, but . . . her place is no longer in the leadership of this company."

Something within the ninja snapped at his words. A red haze fell over Kakashi's single-eyed vision. It was true. It was all true. He did mean to divorce Jun, to put her away. Everything he thought he knew about the man was wrong. He could and would destroy his wife. He would obliterate everything she had felt for him, her sacrifices, their marriage, and for what?! Just because he felt he was right and she was wrong? He didn't buy the excuses, either. Jun was smart, a bit over-emotional in private perhaps, but not the madwoman he described. If Hiro knew his wife at all, he could have seen that she still loved him. Why else would she be clever enough to hire them, Konoha's best? Didn't he see that she still wore her ring? Didn't he even see that he still wore his ring?! The bunch of blind fools, the both of them . . .

The rage burned inside the ninja's mind, yet he retained enough sanity not to let it show on his face. Why? There could only be two reasons for this: Takara's influence, or Hiro was indeed the bastard Jun said he was. As much as he wanted to believe the former, even a woman that beautiful could not produce this much hatred on her own. A seed of doubt planted itself in Kakashi's mind. Maybe there was more to this story that just either of their sides. Maybe . . . he was wrong about them both . . .

"You may tell Jun that if you wish," the dark-haired man said, turning away in his chair to look out the expansive window behind him. "Maybe she will find the clarity she lost . . . Thank you for your time, Hatake-san. And I do hope you will accept my apology and will understand."

"Likewise, Minagawa-san. It has been educational," Kakashi gritted through his teeth. Rising from his seat, the ninja stopped and watched the man fiddle with his hands. Even if he could not see exactly what Hiro was doing, he had a good idea. In spite of his words, he still spun the wedding band on his finger, toying with the piece of precious metal. A nauseating feeling of disgust rolled over the leftovers of lunch in his stomach from the sight. He still had the ring, but had lost the meaning behind it, hadn't he? The thought made the shinobi even sicker, a million insults flying through his head. If only he could slap some sense into the man, all these problems would be solved. What kind of a moron of a man was he?! Why couldn't he see what was right in front of him?! Why was he so blind?!

The rage burned deeper, his knuckles tightly fisted until they turned a ghostly white. Just one obliterating hit and maybe his senses would come back. Maybe he'd finally see that his wife still loved him, and–

Why was he so blind to a woman that loved him?

Hitting Hiro would have felt good, really good, but it wouldn't have solved anything. The man was too far gone, still absent-mindedly twirling the ring on his finger.

His fist unclenched, but the blinding rage didn't dissipate. Without another word, Kakashi walked determinedly out of the office, past the startled secretary, and back to the elevator. As soon as he was inside the lift and alone, the shinobi let go of the burning emotions he had kept bottled up, slamming a fist into one of the wood-veneered panels. The surface cracked under his tight knuckles, but he didn't care about the lasting impact. A punch from Sakura would have shattered it completely.

Sakura . . .

Calming down, he leaned back against the elevator wall. He was wrong about Hiro, completely wrong. How could he tell her he was wrong? How could he be wrong in the first place? He knew how to read people, not as well as Sakura with her intuition, but usually he wasn't too far off. Yet, in this case . . . he had been completely wrong. He still didn't understand why, either. Everything he had said was contradictory to what he did. He wanted to divorce his wife, but still wore the ring. He wanted to run the company that Jun's family founded, but let himself be overrun by two forceful women on two separate occasions. Yet, Kakashi still couldn't separate the grains of truth from the lies. Was their client unstable? Was she failing at both her job and her marriage?

The ninja slumped back against the wall. He was letting himself get too involved in this, wasn't he? This was a job and he was a shinobi, not some damned marriage counselor. Their only job was to swing the vote and destroy Hiro, wasn't it? He knew the answer to that one, but didn't want to even think it. What he had told Sakura over lunch suddenly felt missing. He wanted so much to believe that there was something worth saving, but . . . he was wrong.

A bell rang in the elevator as it ground to a halt. The doors slid open to the floor Kakashi selected. As he looked up, his eye met Sakura's, who blinked at him in surprise. She always did look cute when she was surprised, the wide-eyed stare and nervous twitch in her stance. The conversation with Hiro that still burned him felt millions of minutes in the past. "This is fortunate," he said, stopping himself from grinning as she blinked again. "I was just trying to find you."

Her mouth opened, probably to ask something, when the Copy Nin grabbed her hand, pulling the kunoichi into the elevator just as the doors were closing. She squawked and awkwardly sidestepped out of the way as he hit another button for another floor. "Kakashi, what's the big idea!? And don't scare me like that! I was just on my way to–!"

"Find me, right?"

He gave a half-hearted grin and her anger faded. "You certainly know how to keep a girl waiting."

"I hope you weren't waiting too long."

She moved back into the corner, arms crossed over her stomach. "We have ten minutes until Hiro meets with the jack of diamonds, who's in your deck. I hope you have a plan."

"Don't I always?"

Sakura's eyes rolled, then stopped as she watched him recline against the opposite wall, not grinning or looking at her. Waiting for him on that floor outside of Jun's office, which was deserted in her absence, for half an hour had felt like an eternity without something to do. The only thoughts that kept circling in her head were what they could possibly talk about. In her mind, the summons from Hiro had disaster written all over it. Yet, here Kakashi was, seemingly unaffected . . . almost.

The silence between them was thick, as if he wished to avoid the obvious question. Hell, he _was_ avoiding the obvious question. Why else would he be staring at the lift's control panel like it was the most interesting thing in the world? Sakura bit the inside of her lip, making a small, thoughtful hum in the back of her throat. He still didn't react. She knew this reaction, though. Something had happened, and he didn't want to talk about it. Getting straight answers from him that he didn't want to give to questions he didn't want to hear wasn't easy. He could be as stubborn as a mule when he didn't want to talk to her. The process of extracting answers from him was more patience-consuming than any medical jutsu she knew.

Long ago, maybe into the first year into their partnership, she learned the best way to get him to say anything about unwanted subjects was to acknowledge the topic, then say nothing until he brought it up again. Predictably, Kakashi would open up with time if it was important, but waiting that amount of time wracked her nerves more than he could ever understand. Why did she keep putting up with him, anyway? Anyone else would be easier to deal with than him, yet, part of Sakura didn't want anyone else.

The pink-haired woman pushed away from the wall to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Copy Nin, holding her hands demurely in front. "I'm going to ask you something, and I know you won't answer. You already know what I am going to ask, too."

Kakashi gave her a sidelong glance in mild surprise before relaxing again. "You're right. I do know, and won't answer."

"When?"

"When what?"

"When will we have this conversation again, and when will you actually give me an answer about what happened?" she asked, barely keeping down the tense tone in her voice.

The elevator bell rung and the doors slid open. Kakashi stepped out into the hallway before her. "Later."

Sakura slumped, shuffling her feet as she followed. "Right, later . . ."

* * *

Sakura's gown was laid out over the only chair in the bedroom, untouched since the night of the party. Every time Kakashi came and went from the bedroom ever since they returned from the office building, he unconsciously stopped for about five seconds just to take in the beautiful yet fallen garment in all its state before moving off to whatever task he had stepped into the room to do in the first place. The maid that usually rearranged everything in their absence hadn't moved it, either. If she had moved it, he would have known. He had looked at it enough all late afternoon and early evening to memorize just about every crease and fold of silk. He had walked past the chair to grab a set of notes he'd placed on the dresser earlier and stopped again to stare at it. The dim blue of twilight reflected off the gown's crystal beading, and his fingers twitched a moment.

There had to be something very wrong with him to keep looking at a piece of Sakura's clothing and have this reaction. The only time he ever had a reaction like this was when the clothing was on her, not off. Just looking at the gown made him forget about everything that had happened that day, from the death of his beloved book to the conversation with Hiro he didn't want to believe happened. All he could think about while looking at it was the woman who had worn it. He should have told her, maybe, then in the elevator, but stubbornness set in along with the silence. Why couldn't he just get his mind off of her and focus? Why couldn't he just talk to her? They were friends, right? Just friends? And couldn't he talk to her just like a friend? Why couldn't he admit he was wrong without being distracted by thinking about her?

Kakashi frowned under his mask, still staring at the dress as he sat down on the bed. ". . . I feel tired."

It wasn't even half past six yet, and he felt weary. The day had been longer than he thought. If every day was going to be like this, he needed to stop putting off sleeping. Or maybe he was just getting too old for shit like this. Thirty-six felt like fifty sometimes. He lifted the eye-patch and rubbed his fingers over the closed Sharingan before putting it back in place. Slowly, his eye wandered back to the nude and sheer black silk gown before he could even realize it and stop himself. A choice had to be made. If he was ever going to tell Sakura about his revelations concerning Hiro, it had to be tonight . . . or not. Maybe, this was something she didn't need to know.

He stood up again and shuffled out of the bedroom, across the living room, and towards the sound of running water in the kitchen. She had cooked that night as opposed to ordering out. Her reasoning, 'because she felt like it', was classic Sakura attitude. The only time she took over kitchen duties was when she felt like it. Kakashi stopped in the doorway and slouched against the frame, watching her hands in the water scrubbing the bowls. She didn't even look up at him, the sponge scouring away. "Did you figure out tomorrow's plan?"

"Yes . . . one a piece again."

Sakura quickly locked eyes with his, giving a small smile, then nodded while turning back to her work. She took the bowl from the soapy water and rinsed it before blindly reaching across to place it in the drying rack. Wordlessly, Kakashi put the notebook down and grabbed a hand towel and the bowl before she even realized he had taken it. He dried the piece of china, placing it in the rack with a clink that made the kunoichi look up in surprise before frowning sourly. "I didn't ask for help."

"But you're getting it anyway. Don't fuss."

A smirk crossed her lips as she scrubbed another bowl. "You know, that was kind of mean today."

"What was?"

"The cockroach on the wire, and placing it on that poor woman's cleavage."

Kakashi smirked under the mask at the memory of the event, punking their jack of diamonds. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, and a little too well, perhaps. I don't know who to feel sorry for, the woman for getting felt up in pursuit of getting a bug off her breasts, Hiro for being slapped by her and then punched by her husband, our target, or the cockroach," she said with a slight sigh. "It was a particularly evil thing to do to another man."

"I can think of worse things to do . . ."

"I thought you liked Hiro?" Sakura asked, looking up just in time to catch him pause in his drying. "I mean, he is a dimwitted, pushover of a man, but not totally despicable, right? You said last night that he still wore his ring and sounded like he could still love Jun-san, so he can't be completely horrible . . . right?"

He put the bowl down slowly while acting oblivious to the questions as Sakura watched, her curiosity peaked by the protracted silence between them. The Copy Nin either planned to avoid her question, or was thinking of ways to dodge it. She stopped washing the dishes and turned to watch him better, even if he was avoiding gazing at her in return. Part of her wanted to rip the cloth from his face after becoming used to seeing and reading his uncovered expressions all day. Why did he still insist on wearing it after returning from their job? The cheap thrill of not seeing his face was gone now, anyway, so what was the point except to drive her nuts? "Kakashi . . ." she trailed off, hoping to prompt a response.

"How mean do you plan to be in your tricks, Sakura?"

The pink-haired woman frowned and leaned against the counter. "You're changing the subject."

"No, I'm not. Same subject, just a different set of questions."

"But that doesn't answer my question!" she yelled, her frustration with him igniting her temper. "This is the second question of mine today that you haven't wanted to answer, and I know it, so don't even attempt to tell me you're not avoiding the question. What gives already!?"

Kakashi blinked at her once, then turned back towards the drying rack while grabbing a rinsed cup. The longer he just stood there like a tree drying dishes, the angrier the kunoichi became, glaring at him more and more viciously. Why the hell would he be avoiding her? Whatever it was, it had to do with the talk with Hiro. He had been acting weird since. Even losing his book didn't drive him this off-balance. What was he trying to avoid telling her? It had to be something to do with Hiro, she just knew it. Her foot tapped on the tile floor impatiently. "Kakashi . . . What happened today when you talked to Hiro?"

"Nothing important to you."

Her green eyes narrowed. He may have been telling the truth, but his words were too carefully chosen. "But it's important to you, isn't it?"

Kakashi stiffened a moment. "It isn't anything, really. Stop trying to make this into an argument."

"Who's arguing," Sakura innocently pointed out, turning back to dunk her hands in the sink. "If it is something stupid, you usually just say it . . ."

Silence fell again as she watched the Copy Nin out of the corner of her eyes. He had to be deep in thought since he was drying the cup long enough to almost rub the decorative pattern off. She fought down the urge to sigh in frustration at him, patience wearing thin. How much longer would it take for his brain to get into gear? For being a genius ninja, he didn't know a thing about people. Maybe she should just shake the answers out of him? It worked on Naruto and Sai. Just when she had almost given up hope for any reaction, she saw the mask move in a mumble. Sakura blinked; the sound was garbled. "What?"

Kakashi glowered darkly, setting down the glass as he mumbled quickly. ". . . was . . . wrong."

The kunoichi shook her head vigorously, unsure if she heard him right. "Huh?" she asked blankly. "Can you say that again, but louder and slower? It sounded like you said 'wrong'."

He grimaced as the corners of his mouth turned downwards through the cloth mask. "I said I was wrong . . . Clear enough?"

Sakura blinked in surprise, dropping the cup she had picked up into the sink with a small splash. "Did you just say you were wrong?"

The ninja's dark eye rolled upwards as he tossed down the towel on the counter. Did he really need to spell it out this much for her? He moved around her and back out the door into the living room of the suite, a grumpy tone to his voice. "Yes, I did."

She did a double take as he disappeared through the doorway, still in shock. That shock quickly turned into elation. He was wrong! The Great Copy Nin was wrong, and above all, admitting it to her! Kakashi never admitted he was wrong about anything unless evidence was shoved in his face! She suddenly felt the need to dance, scream, cheer, anything just to express her joy over for once being right. She was right! Oh, how good it felt to be right! Her hands still in soapy water, Sakura burst out in a silly, manic-sounding laugh. She was right and Kakashi was wrong. The world had most definitely turned upside down for something like that to happen. Yet . . . what was she right about, anything at all?

After shutting off the running water and plucking the hand towel from where he had dropped it, the pink-haired woman walked into the other room while drying her hands. She stopped as soon as she spotted him sprawled over the couch in the middle of the room, staring straight up. Grinning slightly, the kunoichi silently padded over and slid down onto the cushion next to him. "It can't be that bad to be wrong, can it?" Sakura asked, perched on the edge of the couch.

Slowly, Kakashi's head came up to stare at her, and not in one of the curiously intent stares she'd been getting from him all day. No, he looked at her as if she'd just said the dumbest thing ever, droopy-eyed and frowning as if any second the dark orb would roll upwards in disbelief. "Yes, it can be a bad thing, Sakura," he grumbled, head flopping back again with a tired groan. "You were right. I should have just taken everything at face value. I shouldn't have let myself believe there was anything to save . . ."

Her lips parted in a sharp, silent intake of breath. He couldn't mean that she was right about Jun and Hiro's marriage? Once the shock of his words wore off, the reality settled in. Of course she was right. One of them had to be practical about the entire mission, and for once it was her. Sakura sunk down, hunched over with her elbows on her knees. Her fingers picked at the damp terrycloth, snagging threads. "What exactly did he say to you, Kakashi?"

"That Jun-san had gone crazy after her father's death, ruining the company, blaming him for betraying her . . . You know, the standard things a bastard ex-husband would say about his ex-wife."

"That can't be all of it . . ."

"It's those divorce papers," he muttered, crossing his arms.

Sakura exhaled as if all the air had been let out of the room. "He's going to give them to her if he wins the board vote," she said, not even bothering to pose the words as a question.

The silver-haired man nodded once, the action more than enough confirmation. She knotted the towel around her hand and clenched a fist. Now, she hated being right. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him continue to stare up at the ceiling, his face as unreadable as ever. What could he be thinking now? Disappointment with himself? Maybe. Another plan perhaps? Maybe not. He probably didn't know what to think himself if she didn't know what to think of the new situation either. All she could think about was how foolish they both had been. Kakashi had been so convincing that part of her did believe that both their client and her unworthy husband were worth redeeming, but now? That belief had shattered and seemed beyond fixable from where she sat. Was this what love was supposed to be? Sakura didn't know, but her mind took that thought and ran with it anyway.

Was this how normal people treated love? How could a person claim to be in love, then suddenly not? Marriage was supposed to be based on love, wasn't it? Then why did it end like this, like there never was love there to begin with? If this was the norm, then why did every woman she know still believe in love and marriage and relationships if it ended so badly? Were they all stupid or something?! Didn't men care at all how women felt?! Did they just use then discard wives and vows and feelings like it was nothing?! If Jun and Hiro were an example of how a man and a woman were supposed to be together, then maybe it was a good thing she never fell in love for real because if it were for real . . . she didn't think her heart could take being broken this way.

Sakura stood up abruptly, the towel still clenched in her hands as she moved quickly back towards the kitchen. She had just reached the doorway when the sound of her name made her feet stop. "Sakura?"

Hesitantly, the kunoichi glanced over her shoulder, pressing down on the urge to show her misery as it pounded on her chest. "Yes?" she asked, unable to keep the shakiness from her voice.

"How do you feel?"

Her nails dug into the cloth. She felt like she wanted to hit something very hard, preferably Takara or Hiro's face. Yet, would that have solved anything? Her eyes closed and her fist unclenched. "I feel useless . . ."

She looked back again to see Kakashi nod at her in agreement. At least she wasn't alone. "We're not out yet, though . . . What are you planning on doing tomorrow?" he asked, "Our game is still on regardless."

"Then I will show him no mercy. He doesn't deserve it," she muttered darkly until seeing the happy creased eyelid of the Copy Nin in her peripheral vision. "That's what you want, isn't it? Why you asked me before, right?"

"Now, Sakura-chan, why would I take joy in the ruination of a man's reputation?" he asked with a sarcastic edge to his voice, and she knew he was just being a smartass.

"Because I think you will enjoy it for what he's planning to do to Jun-san. You're still siding with her."

"Aren't you siding with her, too?"

Sakura turned around in the doorway, leaning her shoulder against the frame while glancing downwards. "I still don't know . . . I'm not buying her grief and story so much as her hatred. She isn't alone in wanting to see them both burned. I'm in this to see Takara destroyed, and now Hiro as well . . ."

"And the money?" he asked, the mask pulled in a probable smirk. She shifted on her feet, nodding reluctantly. "The money does help . . . and because we have to. A mission is a mission, after all. If throwing the board vote is the only way to succeed, I'll do it. No mercy."

"No mercy," Kakashi repeated as he stood up and nodded once. "You should hurry up with the dishes and turn in. Tomorrow will be busy."

"Everyday is going to be busy from now on," Sakura grumbled as she turned away, walking back into the kitchen. When she was gone, he turned away, walking back into the bedroom. As the ninja passed the gown on the chair along his way to the bathroom, his head turned, staring again before shaking it vigorously to clear his mind of the thoughts. One moment he was still pissed at Hiro and plotting revenge, and the next he went back to the woman in the kitchen taking out her aggression on dirty dishes. This time, though, he didn't stop and stare at the garment, an improvement over the last few instances. He just had to stop thinking about her. That was it. No more thoughts about Sakura, or the gown, or how good she looked in that gown, or how good she looked last night when he danced with her in that gown.

Kakashi stopped in the bathroom doorway and cringed. "Damn . . ."

Then again, he rationalized, it could have been worse. He could have been thinking of her naked as opposed to being clothed. Yet, as soon as that mental image of the pink-haired kunoichi naked crossed his thoughts, sprung up from all the recollections of walking in on her changing, and biting her lip like earlier that very day . . . He smacked a hand over his forehead, trying to banish the image away. Suddenly, he wished he had his book back.

* * *

The snow came down heavily that night, batting against her face as she stooped on the top of the garden fence. She held her hand up to shield her green eyes, but it did little good in the rough wind. Why couldn't she just stay in bed? It would have been so much easier just to keep sleeping with her back to Kakashi if she could have slept in the first place. That was why she stood out there in Jun's garden, watching the low, flickering lights in the house along with the woman within.

Her mind couldn't shut down after the talk with the Copy Nin about what he had discovered. The very topic made her heart sick and her skin crawl worse than ever before. Why couldn't she just go back to believing in love like when she was young? She wanted to believe, but every time she had faith in love even existing, reality smacked her back down. How could her friends be happy in love when she couldn't be? Naruto and Hinata, Tenten and Neji, Sasuke and his wife, Asuma and Kurenai, all of them were happy . . . Who was to blame, her or the concept of love? Even Ino didn't have her bad streak. Every failed relationship, every disappointment only made her question her growing concern more, that love never existed in the first place, least of all for her.

The only thing worse than that sickening thought was the feeling she got around Kakashi these past few weeks. Why couldn't she place a finger on what she felt for him? In the past week, the unknown feeling remained with her constantly, no matter how much she willed it to go away. The anxiety of not knowing what to label it only made the emotion worse. Talking about love with him only compounded it as well. What was wrong with her? This was her smart-mouthed, stubborn, and sometimes scary partner she was thinking about very intently, over something she couldn't even understand. Thinking about him as anything but her good friend and former teacher defied logic.

Yet, despite all logic, she still remained crouched out there in the snow looking at Jun's estate house, wondering if the likewise lonely woman held the answers she kept searching for. Staying there all night wouldn't get her anything but frostbite, anyway. Sakura sighed to herself and hopped off the garden wall to land in a snowdrift. After pulling herself free, she walked across the flake-covered path to the double doors leading into the house. One well-used lockpick later, the kunoichi slipped silently into the room to find it empty, except for the fire in the hearth. After dropping her coat down on a red chaise, she quickly and quietly went up a dark staircase nearby, the moonlight illuminating her way. At the top of the stairs, the pink-haired woman stopped to take in the sight.

Jun sat in the middle of a large, four-post bed covered in white linens, looking sullenly down at a ledger spread across her lap. She was dressed in a matching snow-white robe with a nightgown underneath, both made from silk, while a pair of gold-framed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose. Papers and pens were scattered everywhere, but she didn't seem to notice. How could she work in the near darkness with only a few candles giving off scattered light? She didn't acknowledge Sakura's presence at all, rubbing her hands over her face with a quiet sigh. It wasn't until the kunoichi moved up to the top of the stairs that the older woman finally looked up. At first she seemed surprised, brown eyes widening in the dim light, but then relaxed. "Haruno-san. I didn't think you'd be paying me a visit tonight . . ."

"I didn't think I'd be here either . . ." she admitted, stepping across the plush carpeting of the bedroom. Like much of the outside, Jun's bedroom seemed to be covered in white, from the upholstered chairs to the carpet, the linens, everything covered in snowy white, even the paint on the walls. By contrast, the wood furniture was stained to a dark mahogany. Given the woman's bank account, Sakura knew the wood probably wasn't just stained that color, either. Her nose sniffed in mild distaste. The luxurious surroundings made her feel even more out of place, standing there in a grey winter coat and all black. Pushing the feeling aside, she turned one of the chairs towards the bed and sat down. The brown-haired woman looked at her curiously, one eyebrow arched. "To what do I owe the honor, then? You've never visited me before."

"I know. Kakashi told me . . . I don't even know why I'm here," Sakura said while rapidly shaking her head. She shot back to her feet, starting towards the stairs. How could she think a rich, spoiled woman would know anything about love or her? "This was a mistake. Sorry to disturb you," she muttered, moving quickly down the stairs.

"Stop."

For some reason, the kunoichi's feet froze on the second step down at the command. "I think I know why you're here," Jun said from over her shoulder. Sakura heard the sheets ruffle as she moved off of the bed, followed by the shuffle of slippers on the floor. Feeling the presence of the woman beside her, she moved out of the way on the step as Jun walked past her. Near the bottom, she stopped and looked up. "Come on. I'm not going to be getting any more work done tonight, anyway."

Sakura stood there on the stairs while Jun disappeared from sight, debating with herself whether to follow or not. Really, who was she kidding? The truth was she hated this mission, didn't understand the woman she worked for, and couldn't fathom why Kakashi even cared about these people and this world. It ran on money, power, and seemingly nothing else. Love, sex, and feelings seemed to be irrelevant. How could people be so . . . cold? She understood nothing, slowly approaching the point of not even wanting to attempt to understand, anyway. Yet, in spite of her misgivings, her feet hesitantly followed down the stairs and through the house. Perhaps it was just curiosity getting to her, or the want for sleep that made her look for the older woman, anyway.

She found Jun again moving behind a woodblock counter in the center of a cold, dark kitchen with a wine bottle and glasses in her hands. The gold-framed spectacles were pushed up to the top of her head, holding her brown hair away from her face. "What's with the glasses?" Sakura asked blankly.

"Just for reading, my sight isn't as good as it used to be." The woman looked up at her and smiled briefly before putting the tall, stemmed glasses down and popping the wine bottle's cork. She poured two drinks and moved one across from her to rest in front of an empty stool. Jun placed the bottle on the counter and sat down before motioning over. "Have a seat and a drink."

Reluctantly, Sakura sat down on the stool. "I don't drink . . . much."

"I don't blame you. I didn't start indulging in wine until I lost the first baby. It took the edge off. Hiro used to get drunk with me too, when I thought we were still close. The bottles piled up quickly after my father's funeral until the sense finally hit me to do something about him . . . I'm grateful," Jun said, a sad smile on her face. The kunoichi slumped over, eyeing the deep red liquid. The bottle of wine probably cost more than her last paycheck, and here she was talking over it with the woman who practically owned them for a month. At least, that had been what she was thinking until her words clicked in her mind, making Sakura wonder. "The drinking, you think that's what did it?"

For a moment, the other woman winced, purposefully looking away until she slumped over as well. "Well, it probably didn't help my marriage or the company . . ."

A small smile twitched up the side of Sakura's face. "No one's perfect."

"Least of all me or my rotten husband," Jun said as she lifted the glass of wine to take a sip. There was a touch of mirth and sadness in her voice that made Sakura wonder more. Her eyebrows arched. Maybe Kakashi was right in some parts? Only one way to find out. "You still love him, don't you?"

Wine seemed to snort up the older woman's nose at the question, leaving her coughing between words. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry if I was a little too blunt, but . . . I have to know, you see, if you still love him . . . or not . . ." she murmured seriously enough that Jun's eyes widened in surprise. Yet, just as quickly the look of shock came, it softened into disappointment. "You know, when your partner asked the same thing, I pitched one of these glasses into the fireplace," she grumbled, pushing the wine away. "I can't even drink anymore without that question plaguing me, repeating itself in my head. It's like trying to solve a riddle without the slightest idea of an answer . . ."

"So, you don't know . . ." Sakura sighed in resignation, reaching out to fiddle with her own wine glass in distraction. "In all honesty, I didn't expect you to know either."

"It's complicated, Haruno-san . . ."

"Just Sakura is fine tonight, and I already know," the pink-haired woman said, a hint of sadness and mirth in her voice. She picked up the glass and drank down a third of it, her eyes meeting Jun's curious brown pair when she put the drink down. "Of course you would know about love, but I wonder . . ." she questioned, chin perked on her folded hands. "If you really did know, then why did you feel the need to question me tonight?"

The kunoichi winced. No use hiding her troubles now. "Because all I know myself is disappointment. I . . . I don't think I've ever been in love, least not enough to see the value in getting my hopes up anymore."

A gentle smile spread across Jun's face in contrast to the growing frown on that of Sakura's. "So, that's why you're here. You should have another drink."

She smirked and did take another sip, holding the glass to her lips. "Did you really love him at one point, maybe? Or at all?"

"Oh, I knew I loved Hiro after the first date. I just didn't know it when I met him."

"Why?"

"Because when I first met him, I thought the only thing he could feel passionate about was numbers. Not even all the nerdy accountants Eastern Trading employs were that obsessive over their arithmetic. But, I was wrong . . ." Jun said with a raise of her eyebrows. "He was passionate about me for a while . . ."

Sakura's eyebrows rose up. "How did that happen?"

"The first time I slept with him, I knew."

The kunoichi couldn't help but cough and blush at the same time. "Sex? That's what changed your opinion of him?"

"Well . . ." Jun fidgeted on the stool, "there's more to it than just sex. I wasn't a virgin when I met Hiro. I'd had good sex and bad sex before, but with him it felt different."

"How different?"

"It's hard to say, but it was just that: different, better. The way he held me afterwards, said my name, even looked at me, like I was the center of his world. I felt like the flame that had ignited him, and I loved it. Even after the passion had died down, he still looked at me with those big eyes of his, with adoration, and I'd melt to whatever he would ask of me. I felt safe with him, and not alone."

A smile crept across Sakura's face. "So you did love him?"

"I did love him, once, and I know he loved me too."

"What was it like, being in love?"

Jun smiled dreamily. "It felt wonderful, like I could do or be anything. We were so young and ready to take on the world. I thought it would last forever . . ."

Her smile faltered as she trailed off, twisting the ring on her finger. When she finally noticed the action after a moment, she stopped, purposefully flattening her hands on the counter. Her eyes closed and the smile turned into a thin line on her lips. "He . . . we were so happy before everything happened. Sometimes, I wished it would have stayed like that, that I could have loved him forever. I still . . . oh, this is so silly! I should just accept the fact that it's over, shouldn't I? He isn't coming back to me."

A pensive look fell across Sakura's face as her hands twiddled under the table. Kakashi was right. He hadn't read Jun wrong, at least. She did love her husband, still, even after what he did to her. How could she tell the poor woman that Hiro would leave her if they failed? How could she guarantee they'd even succeed, or even make a difference? Was the end of love inevitable? The pink-haired young woman fidgeted on the stool herself before grabbing the wine glass again. She drained it in one gulp, as if she never bothered to savor the rich taste and scent. Even after she put the empty glass back down, her fingers fiddled with the stem. "Men are idiots anyway."

"You sound bitter," Jun observed, pouring her young companion another glass of wine.

"And you aren't? After what he's done to you?" Sakura shot back. "You should hate him with every bone in your body, but you don't, do you?"

"I did hate him too, once, and I'm sure I wasn't his favorite person in the world then, either," she admitted, pouring her own drink when she was finished. "But the fact remains that in the end, both of us are to blame for this situation. I accept that now. Whatever happens, happens, so long as I, we, at least try to change, right?"

Her face was set grimly at the question, answering with a terse, "Right."

If Jun noticed, her small laugh didn't reveal it. "You're too young to be so bitter about love, anyway. Life can't be so bad for you."

The kunoichi's face remained the same even as she took another drink of red wine. "Yes it can. Everything in life moves faster for shinobi than out here, probably. I've seen more than you'd like to know."

"I don't doubt that . . . but is that reason enough to give up all hope in love? I know I'm a poor example for what it's done to me, but at least once I had it. Every woman should have it at least once."

"But not every woman does, least not me."

"You've never been in love?" Jun asked, watching as she took another drink.

"No. I've only had crushes and failed relationships with men who should have stayed just friends. I don't regret those flings or their outcomes, but I do regret never feeling anything but disappointment."

"I see . . . so, you'd rather feel nothing now than anything at all?"

"I'm not that cold. I still want it, love, but I've stopped looking for it. I stopped depending on hope anymore to get me through a long time ago and started believing in myself. I don't need a man to make me happy. Besides, a lot of them that I know anymore just annoy me."

Jun laughed again. "They're not all too bad, like your Hatake-san for example."

The pink-haired woman's fist dropped to the table in shock. "My Hatake?! Kakashi?! Don't be ridiculous!"

"And why not?"

A smirk crossed her lips as she picked up her glass for a drink. "Because he's Kakashi, that's reason enough."

"He did look rather dashing in that tuxedo, and is very handsome without that mask. He dances remarkably well, and knows how to charm a tired, old woman all right," she laughed even more while sipping from her glass. "He's surely intelligent, courteous, and always with you anyway. What more could a woman want in a man, besides great sex?"

Wine snorted up Sakura's nose at the question, making her cough while covering her mouth to keep from spraying it all over the kitchen. "Jun! You can't say that! Not about Kakashi!" she protested once she had control of herself somewhat. "You're only looking at him when he's trying to be nice!"

"Well, he does seem nice? Isn't he nice?"

Sakura snorted in derision, putting the wine back down. "You don't know him that well. He may not be a dog like Hiro, but that still doesn't mean he isn't a stubborn ass when he wants to be."

"Oh, really? Tell me then."

"He has this way of always being right about everything, absolutely everything. I always feel stupid next to him or not clever enough, which is entirely untrue! I aced all the exams, mastered chakra control to perfection, and every piece of medical ninjutsu Tsunade-shishou threw at me! And I still feel second-rate to the Great Aged Copy Nin . . . even when he depends on me, too. I'm actually happy he depends on me over the other medics, though. He'd be twice as scarred otherwise, and probably even crankier. But he's still so annoying!" Sakura screeched, tugging on her hair in frustration.

Jun smiled, watching in evident amusement as she groaned and continued. "And he's always late, especially in the mornings before we do any training or leave for missions. And he's always picking on me, like just seeing me get annoyed and angry with him brings him some perverse joy. It's near constant sometimes, daily, like he can't just leave me alone and contented for just a day, an hour. It's kind of pathetic, too, that he spends all his time with me, just annoying me! Why can't he find something better to do?!"

"So, you would rather be alone?" the older woman asked, barely able to contain her amused grin. Sakura blinked at her, the ranting stopping as the question sunk in. Would she rather spend practically every waking moment with Kakashi or be alone? "No, of course not. He's not that bad, but . . ."

Jun couldn't hold back her grin anymore as it stretched broadly across her features. The kunoichi fidgeted under her eyes while fumbling for the rest of what she meant to say. "But, it's just that he's Kakashi! I don't–! I can't think of him as anything but himself! I've known him way too long and too closely to even think of him as . . . How did you describe him again?"

"Well, I would say he is rather charming, wouldn't you agree?"

"Kakashi is not charming, not to me," Sakura said firmly with a sharp nod of her head that sent her hair flying. "I really don't know where everyone gets these ideas. Everyone I know thinks there's something going on between us, and there isn't. No matter how much I swear up and down that there isn't, no one seems to listen. It's like we can't just be good friends to them. Really, can't an older man and a woman like me just be friends?"

As much as she wanted to answer that question, Jun kept quiet and reached for her wine glass instead. The topic was dropped as Sakura took a drink as well, turning away slightly. It wasn't worth the issue to push it any further, but she knew all right that the pink-haired young woman before her was more confused than she even realized, and not just about love. Deep down somewhere in her bruised heart was a piece with Hatake's name emblazoned on it, buried under layers of denial and self-doubt. She may have protested romantic feelings for him, but she cared about him, and that in and of itself could be considered love enough. If she had to bet her entire company on Sakura's feelings for Kakashi, she would. Partially, Jun realized she was already betting on the pair simply by hiring them in the first place.

Her brown eyes drifted away from the kunoichi as she took a sip of the wine onto the simple platinum band resting on the second to last finger of her left hand. She should have taken it off by now; her practicality kept reminding her of that each morning when she looked in the mirror. He wasn't coming back. Yet, when she did take her wedding band off for even a moment, something greater than just her husband's presence felt missing. Jun put the wine glass down and fiddled again with the ring, her thumb nudging it up and down her finger. "Sakura? What was the question you asked me earlier, about Hiro?"

The young woman blinked. "Well, I did ask if you still loved him or not, but I guess it doesn't matter now. Does it?"

"No, it's an important question. You have every right to know if you're working for me . . ." Jun trailed off, her brown eyes glued to the ring. "I . . . do still love my husband, even after what he's done to me, but I think Kakashi already told you as much."

"He did . . . but I just had to know for myself, to be sure," Sakura admitted, leaning over the counter. "We . . . we found something today in Hiro's office while looking for his appointment book."

She stopped moving the wedding band on her finger. "Should I guess what it is?"

"It's divorce papers."

Jun held her breath, letting the words wash over her. Slowly, she let it out in a shuddered sigh. "I see . . ."

"I'm so sorry. I wish we hadn't found them, but . . . he hasn't even signed them yet, and he hid them. Kakashi thinks he's hesitating or waiting. He talked to Hiro, too. He said he'd serve them to you if he won the board vote, so if we win the vote, then–" Sakura rambled on, yet stopped when the older woman raised her hand.

"That's enough. You don't have to tell me any more. I already figured as much," Jun muttered, her hand balled in a tight fist. "I assume you two are already at work?"

A slight smirk crossed Sakura's face. "With a vengeance. We already have a plan worked out. By the end of the month, he'll be the biggest fool and pervert in all of Snowfall."

"That's a tall order . . . Will Takara be dealt with?"

"I don't know yet. Kakashi assumes she'll be gone if we're successful. He won't listen to me when I tell him it's her we should be getting rid of. I just know she's trouble."

Jun smirked, chuckling softly. "You are right. He does sound like a stubborn man."

"Told you," Sakura grumbled, ruffling her hair again. "I don't understand why he won't listen to me?"

"Because I'm sure he thinks that if she is eliminated, another will pop up in her place," the woman explained with a dismissive wave. "Mistresses in this town of rich men are everywhere, and a man as gullible as Hiro is fresh meat, ripe for the taking."

"She's smart though, Takara. I think she may have an ulterior motive as well . . ."

A brown eyebrow rose up curiously. "Oh? Does Kakashi know?"

"I haven't quite told him yet since I don't know what that motive is. All I know is that she's more conniving, vicious, and smart than you've given her credit for."

Jun sighed again. "Then she's more dangerous than I thought . . . Sakura?"

"Yes?"

Her eyes looked up into the kunoichi's green pair, locked across the wood counter and half-empty glasses. "I can't lose him, not a second time. I know I was wrong before. I was wrong to push him away, then let him go so easily. I didn't realize what I had lost until it was gone, I . . . I know what I want now. I want my husband back. Please, help me?"

A look of understanding fell across her jade orbs. So this was what Kakashi saw in the woman and she hadn't, at least not until that night. There was something in this town worth fighting to protect. The feeling that had been plaguing her for most of the night suddenly let up. Love could be worth fighting for, even if it wasn't meant for her. Smiling gently, Sakura reached across to put her hand over Jun's and squeezed. "We won't let you down."

* * *

The cold air blew behind her as Sakura stepped back inside the dark bedroom. Kakashi slept on his side as still as the dead, facing the large glass doors and the balcony. The only way she knew he wasn't truly dead was by the slow, steady rise and fall of the covers. With the moon already setting, she could barely make out much else in the room except for him and his face. She smiled slightly to herself, watching as his nose twitched slightly in his sleep. As hard as she tried, she couldn't push some of Jun's words out of her head. What more could a woman want in a man like Kakashi, except perhaps great sex?

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to keep from growling in annoyance at that one question. Ok, so he was handsome, and dashing, and charming, and clever, and experienced, and polite, and always with her anyway, but he was still Kakashi. He was just as stubborn, smart-assed, perpetually tardy, always right, and downright annoying. He was just who he was, a man she knew too well. Even if she entertained the idea of him as anything but her friend and partner, it would never work. They fought much too playfully to fight over anything serious. They knew too much about the other to be interesting. They wouldn't be able to function as a partnership anymore. If she cared more about him than she did already, what would keep her from going into hysterics if something did happen to him? She had almost lost him twice already, could she chance a third? Could she trust him anymore to take care of himself?

As soon the possibilities whirled in her head, Sakura shut them back off. No, it would never ever work between them as anything but just friends. Love wasn't meant for either of them.

Her black coat fell to the floor as soon as she shrugged it off her shoulders. She moved around the bed towards the bathroom, stopping to take one last look at Kakashi's peaceful face before shaking her head. "This would be so much easier if you just keep wearing your stupid mask, old man."

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 07 of Dirty Deeds, Social Sabotage. 


	7. Social Sabotage

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 7 – Social Sabotage

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

"What time is it?" Kakashi asked, making the kunoichi before him practically twitch with annoyance. Her bare hand curled up tightly into a fist, ready to beat the time into him. He had asked for about the fifteenth time since they had arrived on Hiro's floor, waiting for him to appear in the crowded corridor. That morning happened to be his meeting with the three of spades, the Copy Nin's target, and his tenth win overall if he could pull it off. Ever since the first day of their game, a week had passed, and slowly he had pulled ahead to be winning by one. If he took out the three of spades today, he would be two ahead of her. That thought alone was enough to make Sakura very, very testy. His constant questioning only made it worse. "It's time you got a watch, at least, so you wouldn't keep asking me," she growled, lounging in one of the chairs filling the floor's little waiting room. "You should have a watch, but you don't, you stubborn man with no sense of time." 

People passed them without notice; just another well-dressed ordinary man and woman waiting to do business. If it wasn't for Kakashi's impatiently tapping foot on the decorative carpet, no one would have heard a sound from them. He looked rather ordinary in his henge appearance, slouched over the chair. The silver hair was gone, now a common shade of dark brown, and the dark eye was replaced with blue. Even the eye patch and Sharingan had been changed by the jutsu until he appeared, well, normal, with two eyes that weren't mismatched. The standard black suit, blue shirt, and red tie he wore didn't stick out at all in the sea of men wearing the same thing. If only he could stop tapping that foot and annoying her, she might have been pleased that he blended in so well.

She sat turned away from him and spread across the seat on a diagonal with her feet demurely crossed at the knee. Somehow, her newfound office wardrobe allowed the kunoichi to finally wear a short skirt and heels without worrying about impracticality. With only one target today that wasn't hers, she didn't have to go crawling through more air ducts or try running in her high heels. And, her choice of clothes distracted Kakashi. Sakura smiled to herself for that one small favor, knowing he was much too busy looking at her legs to even remember what she had said. The choice of a black suit with a cherry blossom pink turtleneck, dark hose, and black stiletto heels, decoratively spliced with narrow stripes, looked striking, even with the blonde hair of her disguise. Perhaps with enough distraction, he would lose both his lead and their second challenge on the side, especially if he kept looking at her.

Yet, the outfit didn't seem to be working well enough. Finally remembering what he had to say, he waved a hand dismissively at her. "I always break watches, or lose them. You know that," he tried to explain away, eyes glued to the corridor instead of on her when she looked over. "Besides, I have an innate sense of time."

The young woman laughed softly. "Yes, and it's always two hours behind."

"Sakura . . ."

"Half past ten, his meeting is in–"

"Now," Kakashi said as he stood up from the chair when Hiro appeared in the corridor. Just in time, too. If he had to spend another moment sitting across from Sakura in that outfit, he might never have gotten up. What was wrong with him today? The staring was worse than ever. Ever since she stepped out of the hotel suite bathroom that morning, he couldn't tear his sight from her. She knew he looked at her, but chose not to say anything, which he couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing. If he didn't know any better, he would think that she wanted him looking at her. Knowing Sakura, she indeed probably did want him looking at her, if only to win their game and their bet. He winced, knowing he was falling right where she wanted him, into utter distraction. Why was he looking, anyway? She didn't even look like herself in that henge, more like one of the women out of Icha Icha. Oh, how he missed those books now.

Grumbling, the ninja ignored the delicate fingers waving at him and picked up a cup of coffee from where he left it on a side table. As long as Sakura didn't distract him completely from doing his job, everything would go according to plan. He blended into the fast-moving crowd in the hallway, moving right behind the vice president of Minagawa Eastern Trading. This would take all the acting skills he could muster to pull off, and hinged on the hope that the kunoichi's information-gathering skills were accurate. He looked over to see his partner's blonde head following just behind him. Then again, what did he have to be worried about? He wasn't the Copy Nin for nothing, even if ninjutsu wasn't about to help him. The only thing that did worry him was that he was about to take one for the team.

Kakashi pried the lid off the coffee and tossed it in the nearest trash can he passed. Timing was everything. Hiro rounded the corner, coming up to the men's bathroom on that floor. Just as he reached the doorway, the ninja struck by purposefully bumping into him. As he had anticipated, the man stopped and turned towards him. The coffee cup slipped from his hands and tipped over in the air, helped by a nudge from his fingers. As he had expected, the hot, dark liquid went everywhere, but mostly onto Hiro's pants, who reacted just like he had expected, too, with a yelp followed by an angry shout. "You idiot! Can't you watch where you're going?!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir!" the ninja said loudly. "I was in a hurry, and­–!"

"Damnit! That isn't good enough! I'm going to be late for a meeting!"

"I'm terribly sorry! Here, let me help–!" he tried to say while pulling out a handkerchief and attempting to blot some of the coffee away from Hiro's shirt. For some reason, though, the mess only got worse with black ink added to the mix. Kakashi unrolled the rag, finding an uncapped pen in the center. "Oops?"

He reeled backwards, slipping slightly on the mess while glaring harshly. "You've helped enough! What kind of moron hired you?! What department are you in?!"

A fearful look was schooled onto the ninja's face no matter how much he wanted to laugh out loud. "Uh, sales?"

"Not for long . . ." Hiro growled, storming into the men's room. Kakashi stood there for a moment looking shocked when in actuality he wanted to grin to himself. It was all going according to plan. In half a minute, Jun's husband wouldn't know what hit him. "Wait! You can't mean that!" the ninja shouted, following him into the bathroom.

As soon as he walked through the door, the vice president looked over at him from the sinks. He tried to blot out the stain with a wet wad of paper towels, his briefcase on the floor behind him. When he caught sight of the man that had caused the disaster, he glared viciously before muttering under his breath. "Get out."

A quick scan of the pristinely white and cold steel restroom told him it was empty except for the two of them. Perfect. Kakashi pulled quickly at some paper towels from a nearby dispenser, balling them up in his hands. "Really, I am very sorry. It was just an accident, and I'm very clumsy. Just let me make it up to you, and–"

"Get out!" Hiro yelled, throwing the wet towels at the ninja. "Now!"

"But it's just an accident!" he shot back, quickly advancing on him under the guise of 'just helping' while putting the mass of towels under the running water, then using them to soak the man's clothes. "Just let me–"

He tried to bat the ninja's hands away. "I'm fine!"

Kakashi held up his hands in mock self-defense. "Ok, ok . . . You should probably just rinse those, and–"

"I know what I have to do, you idiot! Get out of my sight before I call security!"

"Sir, please, I'm really sorry. I just need this job, and–"

"I don't give a shit! I'm late for a meeting that's more important than you! I've had a very bad few days recently, and have little patience for idiots like you, so get away from me and get out of this building! And if you didn't get the memo already, you're fired!"

It took much of the ninja's self-control to suppress the angry vein from popping along his forehead. What a jerk. He deserved what he had been put through by Sakura and himself, and was about to really deserve what would come next. Hiro seemed to ignore Kakashi's presence as the anonymous, bumbling, now ex-employee pulled his white dress shirt out of his navy pants to rinse off the mess under the sink. The bathroom went silent. A slight smirk crossed his face while the angry man wasn't looking. "You really should rinse the pants, too . . ."

A tense clench of his teeth accompanied his reply. "Thank you, but I know what I'm doing."

With an exhausted sounding sigh, Kakashi moved forward to undo the belt buckle for him. As he had expected, Hiro jumped nearly to the ceiling and moved backwards at the same time, stumbling over both the briefcase he had been carrying, as well as his fallen pants. He winced as the man fell with a heavy crack onto the white tiles. "Oops?"

The glare on his face reminded the ninja too much of past enemies he and Sakura had outsmarted. Seeing the man's pants fallen to his ankles didn't help either, making him grin for half a second. Composed, he reached out in an attempt to help him stand. "Let me, um, help–"

With grace and technique only a highly-trained shinobi could possess, Kakashi purposefully slipped forward, tripped with a pinwheel of his arms, and fell all over Hiro. "Oops?"

Sprawled all over the vice president of Minagawa Eastern Trading, he grinned to himself, ignoring the furious pounding on his shoulders. He just had to wait until . . .

The bathroom door opened with a creak, followed by footsteps on the tiles, all according to Kakashi's evil plan.

* * *

Sakura stopped along the corridor, leaning against the wall across from the men's restroom her partner had entered a minute ago, behind Hiro. Just moments ago, the three of spades had gone in there as well looking for the vice president, tipped off by other witnesses about the coffee disaster. For half a second, the kunoichi had thought he didn't pull it off. There was no way he could, not in that short amount of time. There was no guarantee their target would buy it. Yet, once that half a second had passed, the shouting from the bathroom had started, making the lingering crowd stop in confusion. "Wait! Yamata-san! Let me explain!" 

"This explains enough, Minagawa!"

"But it's not what it–!"

"Then why are your pants down?!"

"But, sir, it was an–!"

"Then why is that man on top of you?!"

"But–!"

"This is why you were late to my meeting?! For your perverse pleasures?! No more excuses! Good day, Minagawa-san!"

Sakura backed up in surprise along with the rest of the crowd as the bathroom door opened, the three of spades, a gentleman named Yamata Mikoto, charging out into the hallway. Grumbling with boiling anger, he pushed his way through the sea of bodies and stalked off admist the growing buzz of voices. Moments later, the door opened again with a loud bang as Minagawa Hiro crashed through, tripping over the dark blue pants around his ankles and falling with a resounding thud. The onlookers were stunned to silence until one person in the crowd burst out in laughter. Soon enough, everyone cackled in mad laughter, even as he struggled back to his feet while pulling his pants back up.

Livid and blushing bright red in fury, he pushed through the people in the direction Yamata went. The kunoichi watched, barely able to hold her tongue. Some good it would do him. That board member was probably halfway out of the building by now. The crowd dispersed once the scene was over, except for Sakura. She stood still against the wall, waiting for her partner to emerge. Just when she thought Kakashi would hide in the bathroom the whole day, the door opened. He stepped out discreetly into the hall and up to her, looking as usual as ever with the henge gone. Nonchalantly, he re-buttoned his suit jacket as if nothing in particular had happened. "That would be number ten . . ."

Sakura couldn't hold back anymore, bursting out in silly laughter at the Copy Nin. He smirked, only making her laugh harder each time she looked at him. Eventually she calmed down to the point where a glance would only make her snort giggles instead of nearly double over. That didn't mean she stopped laughing at him, though. "If you're finished, we have the rest of the day to waste," Kakashi said, slouched casually as he walked down the hallway without her.

Before he got very far, she caught up with him at the elevators, reaching across to hit the call button before he could. They stood side by side, waiting in silence. The less they said, though, the more the kunoichi beside him seemed to squirm in her high heels. If he could have called the simple action cute for a twenty-two year old woman that never thoroughly grew up, he would have. He had to admit that she did look cute, yet utterly silly at the same time, making his eye droop and narrow somewhat. "Anxious?" he asked, smirking again. "Or still laughing at me?"

"Both . . . I can't believe you did that. Very noble of you to take one for the team," Sakura said with a wide grin, almost to the point of laughing again.

"A job is a job, after all," Kakashi muttered, just as the elevator doors opened. "And, as of now, I'm two ahead of you."

The good humor in the kunoichi's face melted away, leaving her looking deflated as he stepped into the lift. She followed him without the bounce in her step. The henge dropped as soon as the doors closed, blonde hair turning back to an instantly recognizable shade of pink. She didn't bother looking at him, or asking where they were going as he hit another button. Her arms crossed under her chest instead, the disappointment triggered by his friendly reminder turning into a slow burning anger. She wasn't supposed to be losing, and he was supposed to be distracted by her. It was why she killed her feet in those heels, anyway. Yet, as much as he did stare at her, Kakashi didn't seem particularly affected. At this rate, in one month, not only would she be buying him a lot of dinners, but sacrificing her modesty to get Ero-Sennin to sign one of his dirty books. That thought alone made her burn in anger. "I'm not going to lose, not to you," she hissed through clenched teeth.

The Copy Nin grinned smugly as the elevator doors opened. "Then I would suggest catching up, quickly."

* * *

Thoughts of catching up to Kakashi's lead circulated in Sakura's head, but the answer to one question still eluded her the more her mind lingered on it. How? She not only had to catch up with him, but get her lead back as well. But how? Short of divine intervention, or tailing Hiro all the time, catching him talking to one of the targets in her half of the deck would be impossible . . . except maybe at lunch. It took the kunoichi an hour after that elevator ride to come up with that solution. It was perfect. Flawless. Every officer in Minagawa Eastern Trading ate lunch in the company's private dining room, away from the rest of the employees, including one Minagawa Hiro and assorted members of the board of directors. One phone call to Jun for her clearance was all she needed, but getting Kakashi to eat there was another story. 

As much as he seemed to not care about the particulars of their mission, he didn't like bumping into the various people working in Jun's company. She couldn't blame him since she didn't either, which was why she usually agreed to eat outside of the imposing office building. Seeing Snowfall was an added perk as well on their daily quest for quality food. He would never go along with her suggestion to eat inside the company for once. As luck would have it, though, she found the solution to that through the shinobi's own stomach. Sakura grinned over her plate, watching her partner nearly drool over his broiled saury with plum sauce and miso soup. "Don't eat it all at once. You'll make yourself sick."

Kakashi looked up from the hot food, half a grin on his face, while picking up his chopsticks. He took all of three quick bites of the fish before looking at her seriously. "You knew this would be on the menu today."

Sakura grinned back at him, holding her cup of tea to her mouth. "I also know it's your favorite. It's kind of hard to forget."

The grin vanished, replaced with a skeptical look in his dark eye. ". . . What are you buttering me up for?"

"Who says I'm buttering you up?" she said, looking mildly offended. "Really? Can't I treat my partner now and then to a classy meal?"

"You're not, Jun-san is," he corrected her, taking another bite. "And if you were treating me, it would be at that little place we found not five blocks from where we're staying. It's cheaper, and more comfortable. What are you up to?"

The kunoichi frowned, putting her cup down. "Absolutely nothing, Kakashi."

He looked up at her once then down at the fish, unable to bring himself to believe what she said and it showed on his face. Sakura sighed and looked around the dining room, ignoring the plate of food in front of her. Eating would only make the creep of nervousness in her stomach worse. The cold, impersonal feeling of the grey walls and ceiling reminded her heavily of another restaurant they ate at before, except this one was more suffocating. All of the lighting in the room came from artificial sources; there were no windows whatsoever, giving a claustrophobic feel to the atmosphere. No one else seemed to notice, though, from the noise level among the tables.

Kakashi must have sensed it too, as he stopped eating to look around, a slight scowl pinching his nose. "It's hard to believe that all the people eating here make more in one week by sitting at a desk than we make in almost a month of paychecks, doing a job in which we risk our lives on a daily basis. Yet, here we are, blending in with them . . ."

"Thinking of a career change, or just starting to see what I've been saying?"

"No, just stating the obvious."

Sakura laughed softly, leaning back in her chair while observing the people around them. "And when you're not stating the obvious, you're looking–"

"Underneath the underneath, yes, I know. It's a force of habit. It's also why I'm ahead of you."

"And how's that? You only seem to be ahead by sheer luck and the desire to see Hiro suffer as much as I do."

"And that's why I'm not further ahead," Kakashi said mysteriously before turning back to his food. The kunoichi blinked at him, but he didn't even seem to notice. What exactly was he alluding to? Whatever it was, she didn't know what to feel more: pissed, or just confused. He looked up to see the perplexed expression on his partner's face, and grinned slowly. "You don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

After a moment of deliberation, Sakura shook her head back and forth, making him chuckle.

"I'm talking about motivation," he explained between bites. "It's why we look underneath the underneath to begin with, to find out what's really there, which can be cause for motivation."

"I know that much, but what I don't get is what that has to do with our game or me."

"I know you well, Sakura. Simply wanting to beat me wouldn't normally be enough motivation for you."

"Considering how rarely I do beat you, if ever, that should be reason enough," she grumbled, stopping when she noticed a peculiar look on his face. He was smiling again, amused as if he knew a secret she didn't want known, and her stomach flopped. The second time in a week that Kakashi chose to smile and her insides turned to mush both times. What was wrong with him? What was wrong with her? Sakura shifted in her seat, unable to take looking at the Copy Nin, even if it was just a smile. "Stop looking at me like that. I don't like you today."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the look on the shinobi's face disappeared, replaced with his usually blank expression. "Admit it. You talked to Jun-san, and it changed the way you look at things."

Sakura's mouth dropped open. "How did–?"

Kakashi chuckled as her jaw snapped shut and clenched. Anger and embarrassment flashed across her features. She'd given herself away with just two words, walked right into his verbal trap. Glowering at him, she put her teacup down. "So what if my mind has changed? My personal opinion on anything shouldn't be any of your business."

"Except when it deals with the mission. I know you left in the middle of the night last week, and it was probably to talk to her. She must have said something meaningful to you."

"How do you know that? We both agreed to show no mercy to Hiro, and so far we haven't. I'm almost certain he's going to have a nervous breakdown in a matter of days."

"I know because you seem different, that's all."

"That's it? I just seem different to you? Different how?" Sakura asked, skeptical. He had to be leaving something out. When Kakashi just shrugged lazily, she sighed, giving up on getting anything further from him. Shaking her head, she looked around the dining room again. Hiro wasn't in sight anywhere. What a waste this was turning out to be. She frowned, glancing back at her partner to see him looking at her intently, rather than staring. "What?"

"What did you talk to Jun-san about?"

Her frown deepened, scowling slightly. "That isn't any of your business, Kakashi."

"Well, if it pertains to the mission, then I have a right to–"

"It doesn't deal with the mission, just women's idle talk, which is nothing of importance to you. Can you drop it already?"

"No," he said simply, and the kunoichi's scowl turned into an angry glare, even as he continued. "You were bothered by something that night, and the next day you weren't, which makes me somewhat concerned."

"And I told you already it, doesn't concern you . . ." Sakura trailed off, growing increasingly annoyed with his curiosity.

"Then why are you being so defensive about it?" he asked as she just glared at him. Kakashi fought down the disappointed sigh in his throat and simply frowned at her. His partner always was difficult when she wanted to be, but then again, sometimes he was no better. "If it doesn't deal with the mission, then as your former teacher and your friend, I would like to know. Just tell me?"

The severe look on Sakura's face dropped along with her eyes to her now cold plate of food. "I've just been having my doubts, ok? I got over them."

Kakashi's pale eyebrow rose up in surprise. "Doubts?"

"Yes, ones that I didn't want to discuss with you. I needed to talk to her to clear my head and just make sure we were doing the right thing. That's all. I'm fine now." She mumbled the last words, repeating them as she leaned back in her chair. "Just fine now."

The silver-haired shinobi didn't seem to buy it, still looking at her. "You didn't tell her about the papers, did you?"

Sakura sighed. "How could I not tell her? She needed to know."

"How did she take it?"

"Well enough for a woman that wants her husband back, badly . . ."

His dark eye widened in surprise for a moment, followed by a small, knowing grin. "I knew it."

"Yeah, yeah, so you were right about that," the kunoichi grumbled while watching him eat. "At least she admitted it and we can move on, can't we? We have bigger things to worry about, like our game, and Takara."

Kakashi stopped with his chopsticks in his mouth, frowning. "Not this again. I know you have it in for this woman, but she is not the focus here. Stay focused on ruining Hiro, Sakura, and beating me, because otherwise you're going to be treating me to more meals like this for a month."

She snorted indignantly. "Geez, Jun was completely wrong about you. Anything but friendship would never work between us."

The ninja gulped down hard on a bit of rice and coughed as it stuck in his throat. Did the beautiful young woman across from him just say what he thought she said? His ears had to be fooling him, right? "Excuse me?" Kakashi asked as soon as he got control of his voice, looking just as disturbed as he was confused. "Where did that come from? And since when are you on such a familiar basis with our client?"

"Well, you know how she was the night of the party, assuming there was something between us."

"Which there isn't," he added quickly.

"Of course not, it's just when we were talking, you came up again, and she asked me why we were still just friends, and–"

Kakashi's eye widened even more as he slowly grew alarmed. "What did you tell her?"

Sakura blinked at the question. "What do you think I told her?"

He opened his mouth to answer before closing it again when he couldn't think of what the answer was. Not that it mattered too much what he did answer with since he avoided her question. She laughed softly at the confused look on the ninja's face, which slowly turned to dawning realization. He frowned. "You're picking up too many of my habits."

"That's your fault."

"What did you tell her, Sakura? Why are we just friends?" he asked honestly, putting down his chopsticks. "After four years of telling everyone that there's nothing more to our working relationship than just friendship, why do they still keep assuming there is?"

"We're just friends because you're a stubborn, unchangeable man with more peculiar habits than I'd like to deal with in anything but a friendship and working relationship," the kunoichi explained, smirking slightly at the frown on his face at her assessment of him. "I know you too well, and vice versa. It's as simple as that."

For a moment, Kakashi's eye drooped, and she might have sworn it was in disappointment, even if his face remained the same as ever, as blank as stone. "That's what you think of me?"

"Quite frankly?"

"We are being frank at this point."

"Then yes, it is what I think of you when you are being your typical self. Hasn't it always been that way, though? You don't ever change, Kakashi, at least not that much, and certainly not for me. I'm not about to change, either, and certainly not for you," Sakura added, her green eyes boring into him. "We are both who we are: inflexible, unchangeable, stubborn people, but we still manage to make this partnership work and be successful. Why ruin it? We work together, we have fun together, and we care about each other and acknowledge that. To me, that's more than enough. I wouldn't have our friendship be any other way. Would you?"

The shinobi looked back at her, as if pondering that very question, then shook his head quickly. "No, I wouldn't have it another way . . ."

Sakura smiled brightly at his answer, and it struck through him that even if the words had come out of his mouth, it didn't actually feel like he had said them. But he had said them, agreeing with her that they were fine as friends. He was an idiot. Fuck, she was right, though. Their friendship was fine as it was, why endanger it by trying to change it into anything else? Damn.

If she was right, though, then why did he keep staring at her legs? Shit . . . There had to be a better answer rattling around in his head to explain why it was ok for him to keep looking at her, his friend, as though she were any other unattached woman. Any explanation other than typical male behavior or general appreciation of beauty would do. He just hadn't found that good answer yet.

If she was right, though, then why did no one believe that they were just friends? Kakashi leaned over the table, seeming to study the woman across from him.

She blinked under his scrutiny, resisting the impulse to fidget in her seat. "What is it?"

"Why do the assumptions continue, then? I'm getting tired of the rumors myself, and I'm certain you are as well."

Sakura's smirking continued while she finished off her cup of tea. "Our friends and acquaintances probably assume there's something between us because realistically, neither of us have been in a serious relationship since we became partners. It's been just you and me for years."

"So what you're saying is that the speculation would all stop if one of us finally had sex with someone else?"

Whether she liked it or not, a slight blush crept onto her cheeks. Well, she had to give Kakashi credit for getting to a solution so quickly, but he still made her blush. Damnit! Why was she blushing anyway?! She was twenty-two for goodness sake! She was mature enough to handle a discussion about sex with him in a serious manner, wasn't she?! As much as she tried to fight it down, the red only grew at the sight of his mischievous smile until her face looked more like a shade of cherry than cherry blossom. The bastard, he brought it up on purpose.

"That would be about right, but sex is the last thing I'm interested in the moment. And stop looking at me like that!" she hissed at him, still bright red. "I don't want to discuss sex or anything else with you in public right now, ok?"

"And why not?"

That was not the response she expected, but knowing Kakashi, it should have been. Her blush intensified more to a vibrant red. "Because we're in public."

"Would it make a difference if we did have this discussion in private?"

For a moment, she might have sworn his eyebrows wiggled at her suggestively. "Kakashi . . ." she growled threateningly at him. "You're only saying this stuff and questioning me because you know it makes me upset, and for some twisted reason, you always did like embarrassing me."

"How many times now have I told you you're adorable when you're scowling?"

"Too many . . ." she muttered, standing up from the table. ". . . I hate you."

"You don't mean that . . . but, I like you too, Sakura-chan," the shinobi said with a happily creased eye. Throwing her napkin down, she turned away from him while grumbling to herself. "Where are you going?" he asked when she took a step.

"Ladies room, just wait for me."

He didn't say anything else. With an aggravated huff, she stalked away from the table and him towards the corridor off the dining room that led to the lavatories. She just needed to cool off, that was it, then figure out how to salvage this wreck of a plan on hers. Damnit, why did he have to distract her?! She was supposed to be watching out for Hiro! And what was the point in bringing up her talk with Jun? And why did she let herself get so upset by him? He did it all the time just to ruffle her feathers; how was this discussion any different? It's not like they hadn't talked about sex before, both jokingly and seriously, yet right now the last thing she wanted to think about was that act, or him and said act. Sakura stopped at the bathroom, Jun's words ringing in her head: "What more could a woman want from a man, other than great sex?"

Her fist hit the wall by the women's restroom door, putting an indent in the drywall. Why couldn't she just let that statement go? She didn't want to think about Kakashi and sex! Why couldn't she just get it out of her head?! The kunoichi smacked her palm into her forehead, as if attempting to force the words to go away. "No, no, no, no!"

"Um, excuse me?"

Sakura jumped and turned around, staring face to face with someone she didn't expect, the queen of hearts, one of her targets. She blinked at the woman. "Huh?"

"You're in the way of the door," the lady said with a graciously small smile.

"Oh, right . . ." the pink-haired young woman said as she stepped out of the way. The other woman bowed to her and walked in as she bowed back. Once she was gone, Sakura exhaled in relief as the distraction cleared her head. Whatever was happening to her regarding Kakashi was something she could worry about later. On more important matters, she now had a target . . . only Hiro was nowhere in sight.

Stamping a heel on the floor angrily, the kunoichi stalked back towards the table and the Copy Nin, forgetting about the bathroom for now. Just as she came to the end of the corridor, she stopped, unable to believe her eyes.

Hiro walked right past her with only a friendly nod in greeting.

Sakura did a double take, turning around to confirm that, yes, the man she had set out to ruin had walked past her towards the bathrooms. Her green eyes rolled upwards towards the heavens, wondering if this divine act was proof of some higher being finally taking an interest in her life. She did ask for a miracle, after all; the only problem now was what to do with what fate had dropped in her lap. The kunoichi followed him as her mind went over plans of attack. What could she do to him that would humiliate him further, and in front of their queen of hearts? Well, she was a modest woman, and didn't mind Hiro's affair. The only thing she had mentioned at the party was that she didn't like his sometimes absent-mindedness . . .

Walking behind the vice president, a plan clicked in her head, one guaranteed not to fail as well as altogether too easy. One simple genjutsu would be just the thing to send him into the wrong restroom. Sakura could barely hold her laughter at the thought, unable to concentrate on the hand seals. She shook her head quickly, focusing again. Now wasn't the time to fail. Her hands moved quickly, concentrating on both Hiro and the bathroom doors in her mind.

She excelled in genjutsu as much as in chakra control and medical jutsu. Kakashi had said so himself on numerous occasions, and even taught her how to hone her natural skill. She could perform the hell-viewing technique, the tree bind, and others. A simple false surroundings illusion was nothing to Sakura. All she had to do was make the two doors appear reversed. As simply done as changing her socks on someone without training to resist illusions. Yet, as her chakra and the genjutsu flowed towards Hiro's senses, nothing seemed to happen; he walked briskly towards the proper men's room door. For a moment, he hesitated as he touched the doorway, looking at the other door. Then, he just shook his head and walked in, as if he'd just seen something odd and dismissed it.

He had ignored her genjutsu.

Sakura glared at the door, livid. That man, that simpleton of a man could ignore her illusions?! The feeling of divine intervention she once had suddenly felt like divine humiliation. She turned away and stalked back again, stomping down the hallway and up to Kakashi. Ignoring his curious look, she pulled money from her purse and slammed it down on the table before roughly grabbing her coat. His look turned from curiosity to slight worry. "Something the matter?"

"I'm going home for the day. I'll see you later."

"Sakura–"

"I am not in the mood right now to hear you persuade me to stick around."

He blinked as she quickly threw on the coat. "What happened? I thought you were just going to the bathroom."

"I did, or I was, or, just–! Nothing happened, which is entirely the problem!" she said with another stomp of her high heels in anger. A moment later, she calmed down despite the grumbling as she walked away. Kakashi's eye followed her, but the rest of him didn't bother, staying seated at the table. It didn't surprise her that he didn't follow, probably because he knew better than to bother her in her fury. She banged the door of the dining room open and stalked down the hallway towards the elevators. Once there, her fingers jabbed the call button harshly. At least that was one quality of the ninja's Jun had overlooked that Sakura truly liked about him: his sense of self-preservation by leaving her the hell alone.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the steel elevator doors as he stood in the middle of the empty lift, minutes after his partner had abandoned him in the executive dining room. Yet again, it felt odd without her presence near him, but even odder were the circumstances surrounding why he was alone. What had gotten into her? Usually, she took his joking in more stride than that. Even odder was her behavior after he thought she had left to cool down. Something had gotten to his female partner that couldn't be just his antics, and it mystified him. Just when he thought they understood each other, she threw him off again. The silver-haired man grumbled to himself, looking at the doors with heavier concentration. "It isn't that time of the month, is it?" 

But when he counted the days of her cycle in his head, he knew that wasn't the cause, either. If it were, someone would have been punched through a wall already. Perhaps he should have just given up. Saying he knew her well was a lie. He never could or would understand women, least of all Sakura. What he could understand was that she did look good in a short skirt. Kakashi winced at the recollection, but didn't push away the memories of those heels stomping in frustration, the way the toned muscles in her legs twitched, and how–

He stopped that line of thought short before it got him in more trouble. Looking darkly at the doors before glancing down at the floor, his mind barely registered the ringing of the elevator bell at his destination. "This is getting to be . . ."

The muttering to himself stopped as Kakashi noticed a pair of legs standing before him; really nice, tall, feminine ones, ones that didn't belong to Sakura despite reminding him of her heavily. The shoes adorning her feet were covered in deep, blood red leather, with tall, dangerously pointed thin heels, like the stabbing points of senbon. Even the provocative, yet decorative cuts in the material were the same as hers, but in red. Slowly, his dark eye moved from the footwear to travel up nude-colored stockings, a long white fur coat, and a matching silken red sheath dress to the face of the last woman he wanted to see. ". . . annoying."

Warm brown eyes smiled at him as cunningly as the grin on the woman's face, framed by golden hair. "Hatake-san, how pleasant to see you again."

"Takara-san, this is unexpected . . ." Kakashi muttered, making a step for the door. "I was just getting off."

"How funny, I was just getting on."

He frowned at her innuendo. "Going down then?"

"No, going up. Just finished seeing someone important . . . you?" Takara asked, looking sincerely innocent and curious to him. He didn't buy the act for a moment. "I'm busy," Kakashi grumbled in an attempt to brush the woman off, while sliding sideways through the door.

Before he could get far, though, her arm reached across the elevator's doorway, holding it open and trapping him inside. He glared at her, at least until he noticed that her teasing smile was gone. "What do you want, Takara-san?"

"Where's your little friend Haruno-san?"

"Why is she important to you?" he asked, avoiding answering the question.

"Because it's odd that she wouldn't be here, beside you," Takara teased, pushing her way into the elevator and hitting one of the floor buttons. "Especially after all I've heard."

Kakashi looked as her suspiciously, retreating back and to the side as the doors closed again. What could this woman be talking about? She appeared to be examining her long, painted nails, the white fur shrugged around her. "Oh, don't be so suspicious. Even you must know that you can't escape the rumors when you're seen together everywhere. You both are almost talked about as much as my poor Hiro is; the two personnel evaluators too close to be just business partners. I'm just passing on what is public knowledge."

He relaxed somewhat, unable to undermine the logic in her words and deciding there was no harm in lying a little. "Haruno-san wasn't feeling too well. I was concerned and told her to take the rest of the day off."

"How compassionate of you," Takara mused. "You must care for her a lot."

"She is a very good friend of mine."

"So you do leave her alone sometimes? Guess you're not her bodyguard, either, like the rumors said."

The ninja smirked. If only the blonde knew the half of it. "She's a grown woman. She doesn't need me to protect her."

Takara glanced at him sideways, her nails clicking slightly with a synthetic resonance. "I'm a grown woman too, you know."

Kakashi glanced back, a disdainful look in his dark eye. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

She pouted, shuffling closer to him. "I don't know what you three are playing at, or how you're doing it, but I can and will undo all this damage you're doing to my man. Be smart. Give up and give in."

"I never was very smart, bit of a knucklehead sometimes," he snorted in derision, about all the response she would be getting from him before going quiet. The longer the silence dragged on, the more a peevish look marred Takara's beautiful face, twisting it. "You're not a good liar."

The shinobi's hand tightened into a fist and he jabbed the hand into a pocket to hide it. No point in playing too nice now. "And you're too obvious. You hate Minagawa Jun for some reason, so you're using her trouble with her husband to take her company, right? You feel that we are on her side, and don't know how to expose us, nor do you know how to prove it."

She didn't need to say anything as her stiffened pose said enough. Something in his words had sunk deep. Kakashi smirked, continuing as she glared dead ahead. "Assuming you're right about us, which you aren't, what would you offer that Jun-san couldn't provide already?"

"I'm sure you can think of something creative . . ."

"I never did like people that dealt in bribes much. It's so easy for one side to never come through with their end of the agreement. Besides, you have nothing I'd want."

Despite the harsh statement, Takara relaxed, leaning sinuously back against the lift's wall. He couldn't help but look as she posed, the toe of her heel digging into the carpet while she wiggled her leg. "I could give you something to desire . . ."

Temptation herself pouted her lips at him in a red dress and matching heels. Or at least that must have been what the blonde regarded herself as. Kakashi sighed internally, and looked away. There must have been something wrong with him. He felt no compulsion whatsoever towards the seductress to take her up on her offer: none, nothing, zip, ziltch. He couldn't have gotten aroused at the idea of sleeping with her, even if she stripped right there. In fact, the very thought sent a cold chill down his spine, as if he'd been touched by frost. What a waste, and she looked so much like that one woman in Icha Icha Office, too . . . After ten years of celibacy, he should have jumped at the chance, especially with his normal coping tactic in shreds and his recent behavior towards his partner only growing stronger.

Sakura.

Just her name in his head conjured up more of a reaction and thoughts than the blonde. If he had been anyone else, any other shinobi he knew, they wouldn't have thought of resisting–not Genma, not Jiraiya–but he wasn't them. If it had been Sakura, though, giving him that offer, with the red dress and heels . . .

Something had to be very wrong with him, especially if he kept thinking of the pink-haired young woman instead. He frowned, only turning glad when the doors opened again. Kakashi made a beeline for the exit, even if it was the wrong floor, determined to get away from her as quickly as possible, even if he had to take the stairs back down to his original destination. Yet, as soon as he passed the doors, he felt Takara's hand on his arm, turning him around. A feeling of revulsion clammed up his throat as she invaded his personal space and whispered in his ear. "Think about it. Think about me, Kakashi."

". . . You're not my type," the shinobi grumbled, pushing her away once he got control of his gag reflex. "And you sell yourself too cheaply."

The amorous look on Takara's face quickly turned into a sneer. "Like your little cherry blossom whore isn't for sale too, huh? Is she your type?"

He glared at her, barely able to hold his anger in check. "You assume too much."

"Assume this then, Hatake-san. Assume I have some inkling of what you are up to and am right, and am already forming a counter to your moves. If I am right, will anyone want your precious Sakura when I'm done with her? Even you?"

"Is that a threat?" Kakashi growled, unable to help it any more as he glared at her. Takara giggled, a vicious, venomous edge to the sound, but didn't say anything else. Before he could ask her what she meant, the blonde pushed the button to close the door, forcing him out of the lift as the doors tried to close on him. A triumphant smile spread across her face. "You sure she's that strong of a woman?"

The shinobi stood there, once again mystified by another woman. The difference was that instead of making him curious, Takara made him worried. As much as paranoia sharpened his senses, it also made him too cautious with taking chances, particularly when it dealt with his teammates. What could that woman want with Sakura? Or him? Did she really know that much? How much had he underestimated Takara exactly? Was he entirely sure that his partner could take care of herself? The meaning of that had been obvious, especially after she had asked where Sakura was, right? Those two thoughts jumped to the front of his mind along with the kunoichi's very words as it dawned on him. "Damn . . . I have to find her . . ."

* * *

Ino sighed, bundling her coat tighter. "We could be inside somewhere, you know? They aren't going home for a while. This is practically pointless." 

Genma smirked over his carton of noodles, stuffing his face while pointedly ignoring her complaints. The day wasn't so bad, not like the other times where his fingers felt like they'd fall off in the bitter cold or that the toothpick he always used would freeze to his lips. He could tell because only his feet felt frozen stiff that day, and not his whole body. Lunch was an alfresco affair on the stoops and statues outside of the Minagawa building, courtesy of the nearby cart vendors for the business plaza's underpaid underlings. They weren't the only ones sitting on anything able to be sat upon from the crowds loitering around. The pale blonde sat on the corner of a stone planter filled with a bare, skeletal tree, warming her gloved hands with a cup of tea. Her own carton of sauce-covered noodles rested to her left, the chopsticks pointed upwards in the leftovers. He eyed them, then his near-empty carton as he sat behind her and turned slightly. "You going to finish that?"

Her blue eye rolled upwards as she shrugged. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

The ninja shrugged back and grabbed the carton. He did hear her, just didn't feel like saying anything. She sighed again, sipping her hot tea delicately. When she breathed out, the moisture of her mouth came out in a dense fog. "They're not going to go home early, no matter what Sakura said this morning about them only having one target. What is the point? This is the third day we've been out here when we should be in that building."

"If you have a better idea–"

"I did have a better idea, but you won't let me go through with it."

"Because it's a solo gig. What if something happens?" Genma said, tossing the noodles back and forth with his chopsticks. Ino slowly turned towards him, glaring. "We've been over this, right?" she grumbled, arms crossed. "The point of that jutsu is to blend in without needing henges and cover stories. It's perfect for undercover work, and also why someone needs to be watching my body as I take over someone else's."

"I watch your body enough as it is, thank you." He smirked as she huffed, not amused. At least she wasn't as pissed as she used to be when he tried to joke with her. She also tried to keep herself from hitting him in order to get his mouth to stop. In fact, the past couple days with Ino had been the most pleasant of their mission, when she wasn't complaining. But, he wasn't about to let her know that.

"Listen, I know we agreed to watch them closely, but that also entails not interfering. If Kakashi suspected anyone tailing him, his Sharingan would see through your jutsu like glass over paper," Genma explained, trying to soothe her nerves until she turned away from him anyway.

He gave up, going back to the rapidly cooling noodles. "Besides, I've got a feeling something's going to happen today and we're going to see it."

"Sure that's not just indigestion?" Ino asked sarcastically, grinning as she heard the ninja grumble to himself. After a moment, though, her grin faded while she sipped more on her tea. Sitting there still felt pointless, but at least the scenery was nice to look at. The people, on the other hand, weren't so nice. Her blue eyes glanced over at the group of five men leering at her on the next stoop across. The only one in particular that wasn't seemingly interested was a man in the middle talking on a small phone, but even he looked up to grin lasciviously at her once. None of them looked like the sort of man she would want looking at her like that. Oddly enough, they weren't dressed like business types, either; more like people that dealt in a more underhanded form of business, in clothes that had more problems than she had reasons to complain.

The blonde quickly looked away, pulling her coat tighter around her until she was nearly strangling herself with the collar. She could still feel the eyes on her, the sensation creeping down her spine with an icky chill. "Genma?" she tried to ask him, nudging her elbow backwards into his side with no response. "Genma? Genma, are you listening to me? Genma?"

He grunted as her elbow jabbed into his side with growing quickness and aggravation until she was practically jabbing him in the soft spot under his ribs. Grunting, the shinobi shoved her right back, and hard, the wing of his arm hitting her lower back. Ino popped up to her feet with a surprised screech and dropped her tea in the snow. The hot liquid splashed all over her brown snow boots as she jumped to avoid most of it. He chuckled, nearly choking on the noodles stuffed in his mouth. He still chuckled even as she whacked him across the back and shoulder in reprisal. "What the hell is your problem?! I was trying to get your attention and you try to shove me in the snow! This isn't funny, you ass–"

Genma couldn't stop chuckling as she yelled at him, but suddenly it wasn't as funny when he saw how she stopped mid-curse. She stood there as still as one of the statues, looking out across the plaza to the main entrance of the Minagawa Eastern Trading building. Slowly, he turned to look too, and spotted someone very unmistakable in the crowd. "I am seeing pink hair, right?" Ino asked softly.

He nodded in agreement. Yup, cherry blossom pink hair and wearing a black longcoat. It was their Sakura all right, and she was alone. Ino opened her mouth to suggest that they follow her when she noticed the shuffle behind her. Glancing over, she watched as the men that had leered at her abruptly got up, led by the one that had been on the phone before. He was short, with a face that had obviously seen better, younger days, and dark hair to match. It was the sort of appearance that seemed to dominate the shinobi ranks, toughened and unappealingly unpleasant. She continued to stare as they started to blend into the crowd, noticeable only when she saw that the one in the lead stayed close to none other than Sakura. She lightly tapped Genma on the shoulder, making him blink and look up at her rather than track the pink-haired kunoichi with his eyes. "What is it now?"

"She's being followed," Ino said as she started across the plaza. "This could be trouble."

"Wait, Ino!" he shouted after her as her pace picked up speed, leaping to his feet to follow with barely a second to pop a fresh toothpick in his mouth. "What did you see?"

"There was a group of five men looking at me. They didn't look like they belonged in this part of town, but one had a phone . . . He was talking on it, then got up as soon as Sakura walked out the building. I swear they're following her," Ino explained, stopping only to spot her friend again ahead of them.

"She's a big girl. She can handle herself . . . probably better than you, with Kakashi as her teacher," Genma grumbled, mostly to himself. "I'm sure she can turn a bunch of thugs into mincemeat on her own . . . You certainly don't act like you care about her, sometimes."

"She's still my friend, Genma. Even if I tease her about her extra-wide brow and lack of a life, she's always going to be my friend. Right now, she's alone, and about to be ambushed."

Now that he couldn't argue with, but still, what could they do that would completely blow their mission? He slowed down a little, forcing her to do the same. "We can't interfere, Ino, not unless . . ."

"I know . . . Where's Kakashi? That man is supposed to care about her, his teammate. It's just–" she growled, stopping again to scan the crowd to find her again. "Damnit! This city is too crowded! I . . . I think I lost her."

She turned to him, a fearful look in the oceanic blue of her eyes. The ninja frowned, unable to ignore the tugging on the strings of his heart. Why did she have to look at him like that, like she was genuinely afraid for her best friend? Hell, he considered Kakashi to be his closest friend, but there was no way he'd go careening off on a wild goose chase to save his ass. Genma trusted him enough to take care of himself, especially since the Copy Nin could pound him into the dirt. What kind of shinobi would he be otherwise? Why did it have to be any different when a woman was in trouble? Kunoichi could take care of themselves, couldn't they? It had to be just male instinct to protect anything female, right? He frowned, assuming it was male instinct, too, that made him so susceptible to Ino's pouting, worried lips.

"Damnit . . ." Genma took the blonde's hand, dragging her out of the busy plaza and towards a nearby alley. "Come on. Knowing her, she's headed back to her hotel, and there's a shorter route to there; it's easier to follow and watch from up high, too. But we're not interfering unless she's in serious trouble, got it?"

Ino blinked in surprise, then nodded, following and stopping when they came to the side of a building. The shinobi started to climb up the rusting steel fire escapes clinging to the dungy edifices. Preparing to leap across, he felt a hand tug on his sleeve, stopping him. He looked over to see Ino smiling at him. Something in the grateful expression on her face made him not notice the slip of his foot off the metal rail at all until he actually stumbled. His arms pinwheeled, searching for something to grasp until he felt her hand pulling him back in the nick of time. She giggled, her hold on him tight and close. "You should be more careful."

The brown-haired ninja blinked stupidly at her, the toothpick falling from his lips. Up close, she wasn't that bad of a looker, especially those eyes. She giggled again, shattering him back to his senses as he pulled away from her. "Damnit! Don't look at me like that, then!" he cursed, all but shaking his fist in anger at her. "It's distracting! And you made me lose my toothpick! Damnit all to hell!"

The look on Ino's face was wiped away in an instant, replaced with a building anger that came out in a shout. "I was going to say thank you for understanding, you idiot, but if all you care about is your stupid toothpick and not me saving your–"

"You're welcome!" Genma shouted back, then started to jump up the fire escape.

The blonde growled, shaking the metal violently before following him. "You're welcome, too!"

She followed him anyway, in spite of how angry she was at that moment. Later, when they weren't watching out for Sakura, she would rip into him for his communication skills and priorities. Later. She even grumbled the word to herself, engraining it in her mind. "Later."

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 08 of Dirty Deeds, Bungled. 


	8. Bungled

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 8 – Bungled

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

The snow started to fall almost as soon as he reached the entrance to the Minagawa building. It wasn't a good sign for the day to be turning overcast. 

In bad weather, eight ninja dogs never seemed like enough. Even if each one of them knew Sakura's scent by now, none took the same path towards finding her after he had summoned them. None of the dogs came back in the first ten minutes after having been called either, not even Pakkun. She could not have disappeared, not in this light a snowfall. Where could she have gone to? He never should have let her out of his sight. What could Takara be planning to do to her? Whatever it was, it left a sense of dread in the ninja's stomach. She was the best medic ninja Konoha had ever produced short of Tsunade herself. She could pound solid stone into dust with one punch. She was his favorite and best student, the one he trusted, his partner and only teammate, yet there he was, worried half to sickness and hopping from rooftop to rooftop looking for her on his own.

Kakashi stopped on the edge of the next roof over after a giant leap across, crouched in the snow. He shouldn't be so worried, he reassured himself. Sakura could take care of herself. Only one time had she ever faltered and nearly gotten herself killed, but he had gotten to her in time. If she really was in trouble she couldn't handle, he'd make it in time. He always made it in the nick of time . . . at least when it was really important. He'd make it this time too, right? Just as he got up to continue running across the roofs, the swish and crunch of snow beside him got his immediate attention. The Copy Nin looked over to see a familiar small, brown, pug-faced dog looking up at him with big, mud-colored eyes. Pakkun: always on time when he needed to breathe a little easier. "Did you find her?"

"Not exactly . . . I found a definite trail. Her scent is all over it, only . . ."

He didn't like the way the little pug trailed off. "What is it?"

"There's five different male scents following her too; same path, and not that far behind her, but one broke off from the others. It smells to me like they're forming a trap."

The silver-haired jounin frowned. It was just as he thought after all. "Lead the way."

* * *

As soon as the two shinobi had climbed up to the tops of the buildings surrounding the plaza, finding Sakura again as she walked down a less busy side street wasn't hard. Neither was finding the men following her. Silently, the pair trailed along as well, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. The wind and snow had picked up as well until the gusts of air at that height whipped at their clothes. Ino stayed right behind Genma, nearly bumping into his shoulder at least three times. She didn't have to voice her worry as it showed on her face every time he looked at her. All the ninja could do was shake his head and frown. "Don't even think about it, blondie." 

The kunoichi frowned at him. "She is outnumbered. If they grab her . . ."

"How much do you want to bet she'll take out all five without cracking a sweat?"

"Genma, be serious," Ino tried to convince him as they continued walking. "She will be in danger once they catch up to her. We could pick them off one by one before they ambush her."

"She'll hear the noise if it turns into a fight."

"I could possess one of them!"

"Then she'll feel the chakra miles away, know it's another shinobi, and find us."

The blonde's frown deepened. "You're willing to let who-knows-what happen to her, aren't you? When we have a chance to prevent it? How can you be so cruel? You heartless bas–"

Genma stopped in his tracks, whirling towards her as the words died on her tongue. She just had to pick that to hit him with, didn't she? Her choice of phrase ignited his anger as he stared at her. "I am not that cruel, or heartless, so stop insisting I am. We already went over this. You agreed to not think the worst of me anymore. When are you going to get that through that thick, presumptuous head of yours?"

"If you aren't, then why aren't we doing anything?" she asked back with a vicious tone to her voice and a defiant glare in her blue eyes. "How do you plan to explain our actions, or more like the lack there of, to Tsunade-sama or Kakashi if she gets killed, or worse?! If something happens to her, I'll never forgive you!"

"You are a shinobi, Ino!" he yelled in her face while roughly pulling her closer by the arm, the wind keeping the shout from carrying down to the street. "Didn't Asuma teach you anything about controlling your emotions on a mission?! Get a hold of yourself and think before I force that lesson into you!"

The air felt as if it had been forced from her lungs, a feeling usually reserved for a punch to the stomach, only this was a direct blow to her pride. Ino's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked up at Genma and the rage burning deeply in his brown eyes. How dare he accuse her of that?! What was he trying to prove?! Every shinobi knew that rule was a joke! How could someone really be as cold as ice when the lives of teammates, friends, teachers, and lovers could be at stake? Yet, in spite of all the anger she could summon against him, her mind still turned over the fact that she was nearing hysteria, as well as really wanting to piss him off for pissing her off. Her jaw quivered from the cold and from trying to formulate a response that wasn't borne solely out of a need for redemption. His eyes bore into her, making everything she could have said turn to dust in her mouth. For one crazy moment, the ninja seemed to be leaning closer to her, as if he was examining her face, waiting up-close to see if her resolve crumbled.

Ino ripped her forearm out of his tight grip and backed away, refusing to look at him. "Damn you . . . I thought you said we'd help her?"

Genma looked at the blonde standing there, hearing the heartbroken sound in her voice. Shit, what the hell was happening to him? One moment, all he could think about was verbally ripping her a new asshole, and the next, all he could see were those eyes of hers, drawing him in. That shade of blue, as deep blue and green as sea water, could only spell trouble for him and his resistance. Now, as he watched her struggle to not break down in tears, all he could feel was regret for getting angry in the first place. When the hell did he start feeling anything for crying women? "Shit," he cursed to himself, "I am a fucking idiot . . ."

The kunoichi looked up at him, blinking back barely formed tears. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Genma said, trying to wave her off as he turned back to watching the streets below them. "Come on, we can't lose them."

Looking at him skeptically, Ino followed. "I thought you said–"

"If you'd ever stop jumping to conclusions about me, I'd get a chance to explain," he grumbled, making a sheepish look form on her face when he wasn't looking. Without explanation, he started to follow the trail, leaving Ino once more to catch up. Just as they crossed another small side street, the pair broke the silence between them at about the same time. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at–"

"–shouldn't have been so emotional, it isn't like–"

"–I don't like getting angry at women–"

"–I shouldn't have pushed your buttons in the first place, and–"

"Ino . . .?"

"Yes?"

"I think we're both sorry. We'd probably be better off without the excuses."

She didn't say anything in response, but he caught her nod with a glance over his shoulder. "You ever going to explain your grand plan to save Forehead?"

"In due course, blondie."

"Stop calling me that . . ."

They jumped over another roof as Sakura turned the corner. Suddenly, Genma stopped, raising his arm to hold her back. As they watched, one of the men from the pack following the pink-haired woman glanced at the others and broke away, turning to run down a nearby alley. Ino moved to follow him when the shinobi blocked her way again, pointing behind her towards the way they just came. "Hold on. Someone else is coming."

Her eyes followed his outstretched arm back down to street level. A small, brown figure padded through the snow with his nose pressed to the ground. Just as soon as he appeared, he was gone, running and leaping off in another direction. The kunoichi blinked. "That's . . ."

A half-grin sprung up on Genma's face. "Looks like the hero of the hour is not too far behind us."

A frown formed on Ino's face. "He's going to be late . . ."

He frowned as well, but for different reasons. "Then that means it's up to us to make sure Sakura survives long enough for a timely rescue."

"Genma! What about the argument we just had?!" she hissed at him as he started off, back down Sakura's trail. "If you really aren't sorry and just said that stuff to piss me off, I'll–!"

"You're assuming again," he almost chuckled in a mock-scolding tone of voice that only seemed to enrage her further. "Think, Ino."

Despite how much the ninja was trying her patience, she calmed down long enough to actually start to think outside of her blinding rage. He had some kind of plan, right? One that would save Sakura without blowing their mission? Genma was nowhere near Shikamaru's league of tactical planning, so it had to be something even she could think of, something stupidly simple and obvious. When that thought finally hit her, she groaned. "You're only suggesting we act as Sakura's safety net, aren't you? In case Kakashi is late or she goes down early."

"Right. These guys don't look like professionals in our class, so . . ."

"They're probably just going to beat her up, or . . ." Ino trailed off before paling to a shade that nearly made the snow look warmer. "They could–"

She stopped herself from finishing that sentence as he nodded grimly. "Which is easier to do with a victim either drugged or dazed, and that takes time, which gives us more of an advantage if they are that stupid."

"So, once she's down for the count, and if Kakashi hasn't shown up by then, we finish them off and disappear before he arrives . . . That could work," the kunoichi said with a nod of approval.

Genma smirked, moving faster down the street in pursuit of Sakura's would-be attackers. "Of course it works. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

Ino giggled, keeping pace with him. "The lazy, womanizing kind."

For half a second, he looked at her, deeply offended as she continued to laugh at him. Normally, if another woman had made fun of him like that, or had a laugh that grating, he would have been both deeply pissed and repulsed. Yet, after this much alone time with the Yamanaka girl, her voice wasn't half as grating anymore, except when she was complaining. Neither did her constant stream of light yet snarky remarks about his personality affect his temper, except when she said the wrong thing. He still did look at her too, whenever he was sure she wouldn't notice. If he didn't know any better, he might have admitted, at least to himself, that Ino had begun to grow on him. Then again, what was there not to like about her, except for that complaining thing of hers and the attitude? If he didn't know any better, he might even have admitted to himself that she was a practical, beautiful, no nonsense, opinionated woman he could grow to actually want a friendship with.

The ninja took in a deep breath, glancing sideways to see the smile on her face. It was a good thing he did know better otherwise that smile could've worsened the knot of nervousness in his stomach that had formed from when they climbed up the fire escape together. He let Ino take the lead, watching as she jumped over an alleyway. It then occurred to Genma what the blonde had actually said, and coupled with the knowledge of her crush on old Nara's kid, the thought put a grin on his face. "But she likes lazy idiots . . ."

Maybe, if he really was starting to like her, she liked him in return.

* * *

Sakura's heels clicked sharply on the pavement with each step. The only other sounds in the empty street were the wind howling overhead and the soft pad of feet trying to be kept quiet behind her. Of course she knew she was being followed. Who could ignore the noise they made in their pursuit? She just wished she would have picked up on it earlier instead of being distracted. The pink-haired young woman pulled her coat tightly around her, not about to let herself be distracted again by her own thoughts. If she hadn't been thinking of Kakashi, or the mission, or anything else that had caused her to storm out of the Minagawa building, she might have been able to avoid whoever followed her. Too late now, though. There would be no running from this one. 

Who would follow her, anyway? It didn't make sense unless their cover had slipped up somewhere. Maybe someone finally recognized Kakashi's name. Well, it didn't matter at that moment as much as getting them to stop following her did. Damnit, and she wasn't even dressed for a fight! Tsunade could kick butt in high heels, but her dear mentor had never gotten around to that lesson. Then again, taijutsu wasn't the Godaime's specialty unless it involved chakra enhanced strength. She probably couldn't fight in a short skirt, either.

A car drove past her over the road with a crunch of ice, snow flakes starting to stick to the surface. She needed a battleground, a closed space to avoid an unwanted audience and to keep her enemies from spreading out. She'd have to ditch her coat and satchel as well. That wasn't too much of a problem. Suddenly, she was very glad that she brought the small bag along with her each day, despite Kakashi's protests. Not only did it hide her senbon well, but it discreetly kept her med-kit with her. It was occasions such as these that made taking it everywhere worthwhile.

The steps behind her picked up their pace, and the kunoichi swallowed the lump of panic in her throat. Now wasn't the time to panic. Shinobi were always in control of their emotions. Handling a few thugs was a piece of cake as long as she remained calm, right?

Sakura's pace unconsciously slowed as she saw a gruff-looking man leaning on one of the street lampposts look right at her. As she got closer, he stood up straighter, walking towards her. The footsteps on the sidewalk hurried up. "Hey there pretty lady," the man called out, "can I have a moment of your time? See I got this problem–"

Adrenaline poured into the kunoichi's blood. It was a trap.

She didn't wait around to hear the rest, knowing she would be chased and caught as she broke to the right. Feet pounded after Sakura as she ran down a dark, trash-strewn alley. She toppled over the first trashcan she saw, not looking back as she heard a satisfying crash of metal and flesh. The alley opened up to a side street as she turned left. Not missing a beat, she kicked up the heels she was wearing into her hands before running even faster. The pink-haired young woman darted across the street and down another alleyway. The only problem was a chain fence blocked the way. Sakura hit the chain links and cursed, gasping for breath. "Shit."

Looking over her shoulder, she could see three of the men running after her still. Not about to be caught, the kunoichi slipped her shoes into her coat pockets and jumped. Her stocking-covered foot pushed off a nearby brick wall and then off of the next one over until she cleared the fence, landing in a crouch. She heard the men hit the fence as well and looked back to see them staring in shock. Sakura grinned. "You boys really don't want to mess with–"

Before she could finish, a foot kicked her in the stomach, sending her sprawling across the snow and dirt with a roll. Groaning, she started to pick herself back up. "Bad idea . . ."

Sakura looked up to see a man's face leering down at her as she got back to her feet. The other men jumped down from the fence, circling her. She panted to catch her breath, huffing puffs of steam as all of them glared at her. Only one of them dared to move closer, a shorter man than the rest. "You gave us quite a run, girlie."

"Don't call me girlie, ugly," Sakura growled back, meeting the man's gaze.

"She can't call you that, boss!" one of the men shouted. "Lemme teach her mouth some manner first!"

"Shut up!" their apparent leader yelled back. "This whore is tougher than we were lead to believe. We ain't getting paid enough for this much. And for making us work this hard, we're getting the rest of our worth out of her, after I teach her those lessons myself! I'm filling that mouth first!"

"What the hell, boss?!"

The group descended into quick, quiet arguing. Sakura's lip twitched into a half-hearted grin, a malevolent look overcoming her face. Great. Just great. She was going to get raped by a bunch of clowns, or at least that was probably what they thought would happen. How cliché could these wannabe gangsters be? Arguing amongst themselves could have made it all too easy for her to slip away, but actually getting away at that point wouldn't answer who had sent them in the first place. The longer the infighting went on, the more it proved her theory that common criminals couldn't find their way out of paper bags with both hands and a map. The thought made her grin turn into a smirk. Casually, Sakura slipped her hands into her coat pockets, grasping her high heels. "You really don't want to mess with me. I'm worth three times your salaries."

All five men turned their undivided attention to her, their expressions wavering between dumb and licentious. "Is that right, pretty lady?" their leader said as he got closer. "We were led to believe that you did sell it after all, but you must be something else to get paid that much. How about we discuss a friendly discount?"

Sakura's grin turned into a sweet, seemingly pleasant smile. "I'll give you a two-for-one deal."

"Really now? How does that work?"

The kunoichi threw the left shoe into the air, then struck forward with the right, jabbing the thin heel into the man's shoulder. "One!"

He screamed and reeled backwards as the high heel fell into her right hand. A second thug reached to grab her, only to be stabbed as well when the stiletto went through his palm. "Two!"

Sakura ducked as the next three rushed towards her en masse, diving between two of them as they collided with each other. "Two-for-one! Come again, boys!"

Just when she thought she had a way out, a meaty hand yanked on the collar of her coat, pulling her backwards. Her body hit someone's torso, and suddenly she felt another hand on top of her, grabbing at her clothes. "Hold that bitch still!" someone shouted as panic flooded the kunoichi's senses.

She slipped her arms out of the coat to run forward, stopping again when another man pulled on her satchel. Bare feet slipping in the snow and ice, she ducked to get the strap off of her neck, letting the bag go. Feeling a presence over her shoulder, Sakura spun and struck out, only to have her fist easily caught. He wasn't lucky enough to avoid her kick, though, as her shin hit his side. Chakra flowed naturally into her movements, lifting him off the ground to sail through the air and directly into a wall with a crunch. The man crumpled with a thud. All of the shuffling behind her stopped as she turned again. Sakura stood before them on surer footing and in a fighting stance, a palm beckoning the rest of the thugs forward. "Shit! She's fucking shinobi!" one of them shouted, panic striking across some of their faces.

Their leader glared at Sakura as she smiled. "I don't care! Get her!"

* * *

Genma smirked from their perch above the alleyway with his chakra masked. He looked over at Ino. "Told you she could take them." 

The blonde frowned, leaning on the fire escape's railing. "Don't remind me . . ."

As much as she wanted to cheer her friend on as the four remaining men rushed her, she couldn't find the enthusiasm in her heart to do so. Sakura was stronger than she'd given her credit for, and it made Ino feel small by comparison. She could indeed handle herself just fine without either them or Kakashi. Her frown deepened. "It's looking more like the Copy Nin won't need to be the hero of the hour."

The brown-haired shinobi turned to nod in agreement, but paused as something caught his eye in the middle of the fight. In the hand of the one that had initially come on to her was what looked like a gun. "Shit!" Genma said as he started to climb up onto the railing.

Ino saw it too, only she knew it wasn't what he assumed it was. Her hand grasped his shoulder, pulling him back as she hissed. "No, wait! Not yet! It's not a gun! It's an injector!"

He stopped, crouched on the rail. "They're going to drug her?"

The blonde paused a moment, then nodded. "But with what, I don't . . . I don't know . . ."

Genma sunk back down, watching as the man managed to put the object to the kunoichi's neck and pulled the trigger. "Shit . . ."

* * *

"Shit," Sakura cursed as she slapped a hand over the prick to the back of her neck. The world wobbled for a moment, then refocused. Moving out of the way of another fist, she turned towards the guy that had stung her. "You're gonna pay for that." 

Before said payment could be delivered, though, a punch to the side threw her off balance. Her feet slid and her arms flailed to stay upright, grabbing onto one of the thugs. Another hit struck her back as she cringed, yelping in pain. Damnit, she should have run when she had the chance . . .

Everything seemed to shudder and shake for one moment then stopped, making Sakura feel dizzy all over again. Her eyes unfocused as things started to appear hazy on the edges of her vision. In spite of the disorientation, her chakra-laced palm still managed to connect with someone as she felt whoever had been bracing her fall away with a thud. The young woman staggered as she heard shouting around her. What the hell had they put into her? It had to be a poison to work this fast, or close to it. Everything seemed so blurry . . .

But of course it would! Whatever had been injected into her went right into her blood stream. Maybe it was nightshade, or cyanide? Arsenic? Maybe belladonna? Wait, that's nightshade's other name! Or . . . or?! Damnit! What was it Tsunade-shishou had told her about poisons again? She couldn't remember that either, at least not at that moment. Those bastards had meant business after all, and damnit, she should have run. How could she have been so stupid? Another hand touched the kunoichi, causing her to lash out on instinct. Her nails raked across skin as she heard a pained yelp. She swayed on her feet, forcing herself to focus. "Is that all you got?!"

Their laughter sounded terrifyingly loud in her ears.

A hand shoved her, and Sakura fell. Her back hit something hard, a wall probably, then everything around her felt wet and cold. She groaned, her fist clenching snow. "Damnit . . . cheap . . . move . . ."

"You say something? I don't think I heard you from all the way down there . . ."

His voice sounded in the distance, as if she were worlds away instead of lying in a heap at the man's feet. Above all though, Sakura felt cold, mind-numbingly cold. Everything felt so . . .

* * *

Ino jumped up onto the railing beside Genma as Sakura fell to the ground. "On three, I got the guy on the left." 

"No, you take the right. I got the left."

"But I want him! He's the one that–!"

"There isn't time for this, take the right!"

"But–!"

Before she could argue any longer, a figure darted overhead, then jumped downwards. Genma fell backwards, pulling Ino down with him. How could he have gotten there so fast? His dogs were good, but that good? The shinobi wasn't about to argue, though, about the sometimes untimely appearances of the Copy Nin, not when he showed up on time when it mattered the most.

* * *

Sakura's pink hair on the pure snow looked paler than he had imagined as the clear white brought out the delicate lilac undercurrent in the normally vibrant hue of her locks. He might have said she looked beautiful in that moment if the sight of the rest of her lying there limp didn't make him burn with anger. Three men stood around her, but not for long. 

Kakashi dropped down silently among them without even a crunch of snow. One punch to the left, then one to the right, followed by a kick to the third just as he turned sent all of them crashing down to the ground. Two struggled to get back up while one didn't move anymore. The Copy Nin leaped towards slowest of the pair, grabbing him by his jacket collar and hauling him to his feet. The guy threw a fist which he easily caught, using the leverage and momentum of the swing to flip him end over end onto his back.

He turned sideways suddenly and held his leg out straight as the last man standing rammed himself right into Kakashi's foot. With a loud oomph, he fell backwards with a splat in the snow.

Righting himself again, the ninja walked over to Sakura's body as she lay still below the wall. He could still see her breath puffing away little balls of steam into the air, and it gave him some sense of relief. She was alive. Crouched down beside her, he shook her shoulder, yet she didn't move. Even when he lifted a limp wrist, her arm fell bonelessly back down. What the hell had they given her? Kakashi shook her harder, which only made the kunoichi giggle and try to bat the hand away. "Get gone, you pesssstt," she mumbled, slurred.

If he didn't know any better, he might have said it was a drunken slur, only he knew she wasn't drunk. What had they done to her? Sakura whined as he sat her up and leaned her against the brick wall. "Just let me sleep . . ."

"No! No sleeping on me, Sakura. I need you to tell me what they did to you," he said. She winced, trying to slide back down the wall, yet he held her in place. There wasn't any strength or control in her body as she tried to push him away again. "Just lemme 'lone! I'm cold, sleeeepy, and my neck hurts . . ."

Kakashi blinked then pulled her forward. Sakura bent over like a limp rag doll, not moving in his arms except to snuggle slightly against him. Her skin had a slight tinge of blue, probably not helped by the cold weather and falling snow. Gently, the Copy Nin peeled down her turtleneck collar, looking for what she said had hurt. Immediately he noticed a red dot on the back of her neck that wept a trace of blood under pressure. Something had been forced into her blood, but what? Sleepiness and coldness . . . it could have been anything. Thoughts of basic first aid went through the shinobi's mind as he leaned her back against the wall. Warmth, if she was cold; she needed to be kept warm. Kakashi grabbed her longcoat from the ground, throwing it over her, along with his own. Sakura's head fell to the side, and she fell asleep again until he shook her back awake. "Hang on. We'll figure this out. We'll . . ."

The ninja trailed off as he saw one on the men move, attempting to roll over before coughing loudly. Standing back up, he swooped down to grab the man by the neck, lifting him back to his feet. The guy panicked, thrashing and choking as Kakashi backed him against the wall, pinning him there by the throat. "L-let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what you put in her."

"What?"

"I don't repeat myself, now answer."

"I don't know! I just follow orders!"

A flash of anger crossed the ninja's dark eye. "Then who does?"

He flailed, gesturing wildly towards another one of the downed men, the shortest of the bunch. "Him! The boss! He knows!"

A grim look settled on Kakashi's face as he kept the man still while he lifted the eye patch. He stopped squirming altogether as the shinobi leaned in, slowly opening the Sharingan eye. "You've been . . . helpful."

Unable to look away as the black tomoe whirled, the man screamed, and then went oddly silent. His body slumped over, then fell to the ground as Kakashi released him before sliding the eye patch back into place. "Good night . . ."

Just as the Copy Nin turned towards his next target, the short guy bolted upright, quickly getting his feet under him and starting to run. Cursing to himself, he took off after the guy. Before he could even reach the end of the alley, the ninja was almost on top of him. The man stumbled in panic at seeing that he was being chased, crashing into a mound of snow. Kakashi grabbed the back of his neck before his face hit the ground, roughly dragging him back with much kicking and shouting. The sound stopped, though, as he was thrown against the wall, a hand painfully grasping his throat as well. He struggled while trying to pry the fingers off, choking as they only gripped tighter. "Same question. What did you put in her?"

"I don't know. Really, I don't!"

"Then where did you get it?!"

"From the woman paying us! She said she was tough, that it would knock her out if we injected it into her! Then we could do whatever the hell we wanted to her!"

Kakashi frowned, his eye narrowing on the man. "The bottle . . ."

"It's in my coat pocket with the injector!"

The shinobi reached into the man's coat as he had indicated, pulling out a small vial wrapped in a paper label. The name he recognized as a powerful sedative, one that could potentially cause temporary amnesia and was fatal in large doses. The glass container was practically empty with only a scant amount of blue liquid left. "You gave her _all_ of it?" Kakashi asked, sounding as if he couldn't believe what the man had done.

The apparent boss of this band of thugs squirmed as he was lifted up the wall, making it very hard to breathe, let alone answer. "We . . . thought . . . it would . . . work quicker."

Kakashi let the man drop to the ground, kicking him once in the stomach for good measure. He then pulled a packet of wire out of his suit jacket, quickly binding the man's wrists and ankles. "Stick around a while, maybe you'll live if she lives."

Before the man could plead for his life, the shinobi shoved the bottle into his mouth as a gag. Immune to the muffled screams, he turned back towards Sakura. The blue-tinge to her skin looked more prevalent by the second. Moving quickly, he grabbed her fallen satchel and squatted beside her, ruffling through the items. "Talk to me, Sakura. What counteracts sedatives?"

"I don't . . . so . . . tired . . ."

He shook her, waking her back up when her eyelids started to droop. "Don't fall asleep on me! I need to know!"

The kunoichi's brow furrowed in confusion. "Seda . . . tive?"

"Yes, that's what they injected you with, and a lot, too. I need to know how to counteract it."

"Well . . . damn . . ."

Kakashi tried not to frown. That was the understatement of the year. "Sakura, please. Think."

"Poison . . . extract . . ." she started to say, attempting to get up until she collapsed back down. "You do it."

She had to be joking, there was no other explanation. Him, do the poison extraction jutsu? He wasn't a medic-nin! And certainly not one in her class or Tsunade's! That took intensive training and more chakra control than he would ever have. And even if she could teach it to him, and he could do it, what would he do it with? A street alley was no place to perform complex medical jutsu. Sakura shivered, almost seeming to shake. Kakashi laid her down before she cracked her head on the wall. For a moment, the puffs of steam from her mouth stopped, then started again with a gasping breath.

This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be losing her, not now, not on what was supposed to be an easy mission. The ninja held her face in his hands, trying to warm her pale cheeks. He didn't have a choice. She would be dead before he got to the nearest hospital, let alone a ninja village. "Talk me through this, Sakura," he said as he started pulling things out of her bag, "'cause I haven't the slightest idea what I'm doing."

Sakura shivered as he lifted the coats away from her torso and pulled up her shirt. "Use the snow . . . grab it . . . with chakra . . . then crush . . . and put . . . the yellowroot . . . into it."

She gasped for breath, and he knew she had come close to not breathing again. "Just hang on. I can do this."

Kakashi grabbed the packet labeled yellowroot, pulling the dried herbs out and crushing it in his palm. He'd seen her do this so many times before, but never copied it as it was all done with chakra manipulation and control. She even performed it on him more than once when he was poisoned while they'd been on missions together. Each time it was the same procedure: yellowroot in water; form it into a bubble in her hands with chakra; then push into the skin, through the body, and out again, like a liquid filter. But with snow? It was the same principle, he guessed, just a solid and not a liquid form of water. Not that he had time to argue with the medic-nin's training. Maybe what was left of her body heat would melt it enough to let it pass, or the chakra would. If she thought it would work, it would work. How much he silently hoped it worked. Herbs ready, the Copy Nin stuck his hand in the snow. It was just like Rasengan, right? Just don't move the chakra; form it around the hand.

The first time he lifted his hand out, the snow clung to it in a thin layer, making him curse. "Damn, not enough."

His hand dove back in; sweat broke out along his brow as he concentrated on forming a ball of it. When he lifted it up again, the snow had formed an irregular sphere under his hand. Kakashi breathed a little easier in relief. "Ok . . . Now what?"

She convulsed as he placed the snow against her cold skin, and for a moment he thought she had gone into shock until she settled back down, still breathing. "Sakura, talk to me. How do I do this?" he pleaded, wiping the freezing sweat away.

Even if her eyes were wide open, Sakura saw nothing. She barely heard his question as her mind wandered in the coldness surrounding her. No, she did hear something, but it wasn't Kakashi. She was seeing things as well, except it wasn't the grey sky above her. No, what replayed over in her mind was the memory of the technique she was supposed to be talking him through. Tsunade's voice whispered in her ear, drumming the instructions into her, just as it had throughout the four days it had taken her to learn it until she had mastered it. It was the same words over and over again, just as her mentor had said them each time she failed to save one poisoned fish after another. Push the water through and pull it out again, like a string through a needle. Push the water through and pull it out again, like a string through a needle. "Push the water . . . through . . . pull it out, like . . . string . . . through a needle."

Like string through a needle? Kakashi's worried frown deepened. Somehow, he couldn't think of it being that easy. He took a big gulp of cold air, then slowly let it out again. Anything could go wrong. For all he knew he could end up causing internal bleeding or something and killing her if he didn't do this right. Failure wasn't an option, though. He wasn't losing another teammate to dumb chance, least of all the cherry blossom. The ninja pushed at the chakra and the snow.

Sakura screamed, but he didn't stop. That was how it was, right? He knew from personal experience that it hurt like thousands of stabbing kunai until it was over, and the use of snow probably made it worse. When she thrashed on the ground suddenly, throwing off the coats, Kakashi moved to pin her back down by straddling her legs and holding her shoulder down with an elbow. He cursed to himself, wishing he'd tied her down before starting this. Each time he pushed a little more of the chakra into her, she screamed and tried to throw him off. He could be killing her at that moment, and he wouldn't know it. All that he could do was keep trying, and hoping. The phrase she had said kept repeating itself in his head: like string through a needle, like string through a needle. "Like string through a needle."

His other hand hovered over her abdomen, trying to pull the chakra out along with the melted snow and the drug, but it wasn't coming out at all. What was he doing wrong? "Come on . . ." Kakashi muttered under his breath.

He pushed again, Sakura screamed, and finally water droplets pulled away from her skin to form around his hand. His jaw dropped at the sight, definitely seeing the blue tinge of the water that was also free of red. He'd done it, or rather, was doing it. Kakashi broke out in a maddening cackle, marveling over it as much as he did over a latest copy of Icha Icha. "I actually did it."

"Kakashi . . ."

Suddenly his attention was back on Sakura and finishing the procedure. "Just hold on. I can do this . . . I can do this."

After the first tug on the chakra, passing the rest through her and back out became easier. Keeping the kunoichi still throughout the process though was anything but easy on the other hand until she finally exhausted herself in fighting him. When it was over, she had passed out, lying still on the ground, covered up again and breathing easier. Kakashi sat beside her, nearly as exhausted from the effort as she was and wishing he could pass out, too. The water was dumped into the alleyway, and it ran down towards the sewer drains. Slowly, the ninja got back up and brushed himself off before turning back to study her. The blue tint was gone from her skin, replaced with a red blush instead, along with a slight, clammy sweat. He crouched down over her, brushing the pink hair away from her face where it stuck. Suddenly, Sakura woke up with a gasping breath, green eyes fluttering. He tried not to smile. "Better?"

She groaned, reaching up to rub her forehead. "Been better . . . How did I get like this?"

Kakashi blinked. "You were attacked by five men. In the middle of the attack, you were injected with an overdose amount of sedative."

"Oh . . ." Sakura said as if it was a big surprise to her before her brow furrowed. "Why don't I remember?"

"It has a side effect of short-term memory loss."

"Oh . . ."

"What do you remember?"

"Being followed. Knowing I was being followed, too. Then running when they cornered me . . . I don't remember fighting back . . . How long was I out?"

"Only a few minutes. You're lucky I found you in time . . ."

"Oh . . . How many did I take down?"

"Two."

Her groan got louder. "Two? That's it?"

He nodded and she tried to roll away. So much for all of his great taijutsu teaching. She couldn't even defend herself from five thugs. How could she have not noticed someone trying to inject her?! Sakura grumbled to herself, burning with anger, and successfully rolling away from him in the snow. She still felt cold, almost deathly so. Wait, what had he said about an overdose? "How much did they stick me with?" Sakura asked.

"It was a lethal dose . . ."

Suddenly, she felt a lot colder. "How am I still alive then, and better? I should be–"

"I said you were lucky I found you in time . . . and even luckier that I've seen you do that poison extraction jutsu too many times."

The kunoichi blinked. "Huh?"

"I did that jutsu on you while you talked me through it, and with snow instead of water. Probably quite handy to have in my arsenal, too. I can only imagine the applications. One could use it to–"

Sakura groaned again, wanting to beat her head against a rock or something else equally hard and close by. "I just taught you that jutsu?"

"Yes, and I just performed it perfectly on the first crack. You must be some teacher, Sakura-chan, or I'm some student," Kakashi said with a happy crease of his eye.

"It took me four days to master that jutsu and countless dead fish, and just–! Argh! And you got it on the first try?! I know you're a ninjutsu genius, but give me a break already! That should have been impossible for you to do!"

"But I did it, didn't I?"

". . . I hate you."

Kakashi tried not to roll his eye. She didn't mean that at all. She just hated that he knew some medical jutsu, too. She was also missing the point, and that was that she lived because of him. "You almost died, you know. A 'thank you' for saving your life would be appreciated."

Her frown deepened. "Thank you . . . but I'm still kind of angry here," she muttered, then grumbled to herself.

"You'll get over it soon."

Sakura sighed, throwing the coats off of her body. He couldn't help but smirk as she tried to get up, and rather shakily at that, before he pushed her back down to a sitting position. "Don't even try it."

The kunoichi frowned. "I'm fine now. Not keeling over any time soon."

"Don't argue." Kakashi stood up again, taking his coat with him before throwing hers around her. "And stay warm."

She followed his order and didn't argue, slowly slipping her arms into the sleeves. The ninja moved away from her and towards another man lying on the ground with his hands and feet bound. She watched as the ninja picked the man up effortlessly and backed him up into a wall. Slowly, Sakura stood up again with a slight wobble, breathing calmly as she picked her things up, slung the satchel over her shoulder, and tried to fix herself as best she could. After eventually finding her discarded heels, she wondered for all of a second how blood got onto the stilettos, before shrugging and slipping them back on. Kakashi glanced at her when she came up behind him and shook his head. "I told you to rest."

"And I told you, I'm fine. If you're going to interrogate him, I want to listen in. You're not the only one with questions. I got a few of my own too, like who the hell sent him and his men to kill me."

The Copy Nin pulled the vial out of the man's mouth, tossing it aside as he yelled. "It was an accident, I swear! I'll never mess with drugs again! Just fucking let me go already!"

Somehow, from the frowns on both of the shinobi's faces, it was easy to tell that they didn't believe him. "Not 'til you answer our questions, tough guy." Sakura took a threatening step forward. "Who sent you?"

"Actually, I already have a good idea who," Kakashi interrupted, much to Sakura's surprise. "But I'd like to hear it from him too, just to confirm my suspicions, of course."

Their attention turned back to the man, who seemed to be growing a backbone as he didn't shake nearly as much as before. "You're not gonna kill me, are you?"

"Well, Sakura did live, so I suppose we should let you go . . ."

"Answer his questions well, and I won't pound you into specks of dust, maybe," the kunoichi hissed, growing anxious for some answers. And yet, the man just smirked at her. There was a leering glint in his eyes, as if he was still undressing her in his mind despite how he was pinned against a wall. "I think you'll have to do better than that, pinkie. I can think of a few other things, like–"

Kakashi's fist slugged into the wall beside his head, making a fine line crack in the brick. The man paled. "Ok, ok! . . . It was some blonde woman, sexiest damned thing I'd ever seen. She told us to find some pink-haired woman working at the Minagawa building, rough her up, and then get my men to do her."

The two shinobi looked at each other significantly. "Name."

"I can't remember her name. Uhhhh, T-something, maybe? You know how fuzzy memories get when you've been hit a few times . . ."

Sakura's frown didn't improve. "Was her name Takara?"

"I really don't know. Maybe you could, you know, think of something more pleasant than the prospect of beating me within an inch of my life?"

Kakashi's grip twisted in the man's shirt, nearly strangling him with it while lifting him up the wall. "Was it Takara or not?"

"Yes! Yes! It was her, damnit! Put me down!"

The Copy Nin slowly let him down while looking at his partner questioningly. He could see the anger building in her, as well as four words repeating themselves over and over in her stare, in a litany that would surely be ground into his head eventually. She didn't even have to say it for him to get to message: 'I told you so'. Her knuckles cracked and her fist clenched; keeping her fury bottled tightly, she spoke in a dangerously small voice. "Excuse me for a moment . . ."

Sakura walked past the ninja, over a few unconscious bodies, and up to a large trash bin sitting at the end of the alley. Kakashi shuffled on his feet while watching her, knowing those murderous waves of anger radiating off of her couldn't be anything good, at least not for the trash bin. With a loud crash, she punched a chakra-loaded fist into the metal, denting it severely. Well, at least she probably felt better after that. Then again, she was only getting more worked up, shouting, kicking, and slugging the large container with such brute force that it started to crumple under her hands. The ninja stared at her, wincing slightly at each loud screech of metal, while the face of man he held captive turned a pasty shade of white. "Is . . . she ok?"

Kakashi turned back to the man, patting him on the shoulder. "She's just a tad upset at the moment. Nothing to worry about."

Another loud bang of her fist hitting metal didn't make the man seem any more comforted. "Why don't you tell me more about your dealings with Takara?" the Copy Nin suggested, turning him away from the sight of the irate kunoichi. "Like what did she offer for your . . . 'services'."

"Uh, ten thousand?" the man said, not sounding too sure until another crash from behind them persuaded him otherwise. "It was twenty thousand! Half up front and half when it was done! I swear! I thought it would be an easy gig for me and my gang! She didn't even mention you! If she had told us you were shinobi, I never would have taken it!"

"She never told you?"

"No! Do I look like a mind reader to you?! She even said it would be easy! When I get my hands on that bitch . . ."

Kakashi clapped him on the shoulder, drawing him further away. "What you should be more concerned about is drugging my partner, and what I could have done to you if she had died."

Another bang drew away the man's attention momentarily, fear spreading across his face as he raised his bound hands defensively. "Listen, I'm really sorry about that. She never told us how dangerous that shit was, and I know nothing about drugs, and–"

"Takara gave you the drug, but she didn't tell you how much to give?" the Copy Nin asked, one eyebrow quirked.

The man slumped slightly. "Yeah, she didn't say a thing . . . just said it would make it easy to rape her if she resisted, and that she wouldn't remember who hit her when it was over . . ."

For a second, an angry flash crossed the ninja's dark eye. "Did she mention why she wanted this done?"

"No, not one word about it. I didn't want to know myself. Women are crazy."

Kakashi looked over his shoulder after another loud crunch to see Sakura bent over and panting before kicking the nearly destroyed trash bin again, putting her foot through the metal as easily as if it were taut fabric. "Only crazy when they're angry, or fighting with another woman."

The man looked as well, shuffling on his feet nervously. "Can I go now?"

"Not yet, we still have business."

He paled as the ninja reached into his suit jacket, wondering what weapon he'd pull out to kill him with . . . until he saw the wallet in his hand. The man's eyes lit up as Kakashi opened the bill fold to pull out a number of large notes. A moment later, they were stuffed into his hands, and the wires around his wrists and ankles were snapped off. The leader of the gang blinked at the shinobi as he stuffed the wallet back into his jacket. "What?"

"Don't you know hush money when you see it? I thought all tough guys knew how to take bribes?"

The man gawked at him, speechless. Kakashi smirked, continuing with a sagely nod. "That's twenty thousand for you and your men. In return, you are to tell Takara that you never managed to catch Sakura, and that none of this happened. You are not to breathe one word about what we are, and you are never to let us see you again. If you fail in any of that . . ."

He gulped, eyeing the kunai lining the ninja's jacket as he momentarily flashed it open. "I get the point."

"Good, now . . . run."

The man ran all right, nearly crashing into another trash bin in his hurry, and leaving his unconscious men behind. Kakashi stood there watching him careen out of the alley as Sakura came up beside him, out of breath as she leaned onto his arm. "Think he bought it?"

"Do you think _I_ bought it? Sometimes you scare me with that strength of yours. I don't think he'll attack another woman without wondering if she'll punch him through walls first . . . Feeling better?

"Not by much . . . Did you need to pay him that much?"

"Just covering all our angles," he said before turning towards her. "You are getting better at being the bad guy when it comes to interrogating, too . . ."

"A compliment, how touching." She grinned for a moment, and then frowned again. "I really am pissed, you know. When I get my hands on that, that–!"

Sakura stomped her foot, breaking off in an aggravated huff as she stalked off down the street. "And I'm still pissed at you, too. I told you! I told you, I told you, I told you so, so many times Kakashi, and did you believe me once?! No!"

He followed after her. "That's kind of in the past now, just so you know."

"How many times did I warn you about her?!"

"You see, that really shouldn't matter since–"

Sakura whirled on him as she screamed right in his face. "How many?!"

Kakashi's eye creased, but not as sarcastically happy as normal, while nervously scratching the back of his head. "A few times . . . but it really is beside the point since now I know better."

"No, the point is you should have listened to me, your partner, and you didn't!" she yelled before turning back again and walking on without him. The seriousness of her accusation made his mood sink as he followed, keeping a distance behind her. Even if he did try to keep away from her, it didn't stop him from hearing every angry grumble. "You never really listen to me anyway, not when you think you know better. You're always right. Always, always, always. Never wrong and always right. I'm only ever right when something blows up in your face. Like how you were wrong about Hiro, I was right then that he was a scumbag, but did you listen to me? No! Did you listen to me about Takara being trouble? No! Am I ever right? Of course not! Not to you!"

"Now you're putting words into my mouth." Kakashi interrupted her tirade as she slowed down. "I can understand you're upset, but–"

"Upset?! You haven't begun to see upset from me! She tried to have me raped and killed! I'll murder her myself!"

"That really wouldn't solve anything . . ."

She spun again. "What wouldn't it solve?! She'd be gone! All she does is cause trouble! And now I have a personal reason to kill her because her existence threatens mine!"

Kakashi shoved his hands into his coat pockets. There wasn't any argument that Takara had suddenly become a bigger problem than he thought, but assassination wasn't a part of their mission . . . even if part of him wouldn't miss the sight of the blonde. She turned around, idly kicking her foot at the snow. The storm had picked up to a heavier fall of snowflakes around them. "Sakura . . ." he started, "all killing her would do is make you no better than her, and put suspicion on us. This is still a mission, after all."

Even if what he said made sense, the pink-haired young woman was still angry–ragingly angry, livid even–and not just with Takara. "That's so like you, always thinking of the mission first," she muttered bitterly, taking a step closer towards him. "Why don't you just come out and say it? Why don't you just come off that high pedestal and admit you want to see her dead, too, for what she's done? You had to have known she was up to something against me, or else you wouldn't have come running to save me. You knew, didn't you? And yet you are still going to let her live."

A flash of anger went through the ninja at her accusations as a stern look crossed his face before simmering down to a frown. "I had my suspicions about her, yes, but you're right, I didn't know a thing until she ran into me in one of the elevators after you left. And I am going to let her live since the problem is Hiro and not her. I don't want to kill her or anyone else unless we can't help it."

"Why? Going soft?"

"No, because collateral damage won't help us."

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, hips cocked to the side. "If you knew she was sending people after me, why didn't you let me handle it myself?"

"I should remind you I saved your life–" he added before the angry kunoichi interrupted him.

"Yes, but how did you even know I needed the help?! You probably just assumed I couldn't take care of myself! Right?!"

Kakashi frowned. Now who was assuming? "That wasn't it at all," he tried to rationalize, even as her foot tapped impatiently on the ground. "She vaguely admitted to putting you in danger, but failed to specify what exactly. Did you expect me to sit still while knowing my partner was in unknown danger?"

"You've trusted me before to take care of myself! And you've trusted what I've told you before, too! Yet you still, at times, choose to not listen! You still choose to treat me like a genin that can't wipe her own nose! This is exactly my problem with you! You choose when to trust and not trust people, even me, even your friends! Either you trust me or you don't!"

"I do trust you, Sakura."

"You don't act like it! I swear, trust is like a four-letter word with you! Every time you say it, it's to get me to do something I should know better than to do!"

"I should remind you, again, that I saved your life . . ."

"If it weren't for the fact that they drugged me, I could have wiped the floor with them!"

"But you didn't."

"But I don't always need you there to . . . to remind me that I'm not as good as you! . . . Damnit!" she cursed, whirling around again and walking in a circle while rubbing her forehead.

Kakashi stood there, glaring at her and trying not to let his rising temper get to him. How could she question if he trusted her or not? Of course he trusted her; he always said it and always meant it. He knew what she was capable of, including massive destruction and superior intellect and insight. Did that mean he still couldn't look out for her? She was supposed to be his partner, teammate, friend, whatever. Wasn't watching out for one another part of the relationship? Would she accuse him of being heartless if he didn't care for her? She knew he cared for her, right? Did she know that at all? What did he have to do, scream out at the top of his lungs that he would be devastated once and for all if she died as well? Just like Obito? Just like Rin?

Simmering in his own anger, the Copy Nin watched as she stopped pacing to turn back towards him. She must have realized that he was angry when an apologetic look crossed her green eyes. "I am grateful, really, for what you did today, and proud you could pull it off, but . . . Can you understand, a little, how I feel right now?"

Kakashi's face didn't budge an inch. Couldn't she understand how _he_ felt?

Sakura sighed, trying not to let it turn into a groan. "We're supposed to be partners. Equals. You talked me into having your back, but if that's true, why do I get the feeling I'm still a burden to you? That it's just lip service for some other reason to keep me around?"

His anger melted slightly at the self-doubt in her words, ignoring her accusations for the moment. "I meant what I said to you, Sakura. I still do, and I am still glad you agreed that night four years ago and haven't given up putting up with me since. You're not a burden to me, either. You should know me by now to know that I'm a bit . . ."

"Overprotective?" she offered.

"Paranoid," Kakashi said, before taking a calming breath. "I don't always listen, and for that . . . I'm sorry."

Sakura held down her growing grin. "Say that again? I don't think I heard you right."

"I'm not repeating it," he grumbled, trudging along through the snow past her. "We all make mistakes. I thought you knew that by now? And I also thought you knew by now that I always keep my word."

"Not always," Sakura shot back as she walked beside him. "You try to, but you are not perfect . . . At least you try not to break your word to me, sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"There's no excuse for not trusting my judgment."

"Judgment can be wrong sometimes."

"Which was part of my point to begin with, since you misjudged both her and Hiro."

"No, your point was to make me out to be the bad guy because I told you not to murder Takara," Kakashi shot back viciously, gratified to hear Sakura splutter in disbelief.

"I did not do that! Stop twisting this argument since I still have a right to be pissed!"

"Just admit it already. You wanted someone to be pissed at, so you picked me since I was wrong anyway, despite the fact that I, you know, saved your life and all."

She glared at him. "I am not that petty."

"Like killing Takara would not have been petty?"

"She tried to kill me first!" Sakura yelled. "She's dangerous, and trouble, and I told you! We need–!"

"I know that!" Kakashi finally snapped back at her. Sakura blinked as he stopped to look away from her while running a hand through his silver hair, dislodging flakes of snow. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. This was the first real argument they had had with each other in a long time. Too long. The first, and what she thought was the last fight, occurred when she nearly died, maybe a year, year and a half ago. His cowardice had kicked in back then, arguing with her that one day, he'd get her nearly killed again, except next time he might not be there to save her. It was only when she scolded him about being a shinobi and about how she was supposed to die for Konoha one day that he laughed at her. She didn't know what made him laugh; maybe it was the ridiculousness of being scolded by his one-time student, or maybe it was just the ridiculousness of it all, but Kakashi had laughed. At the time, she hadn't laughed with him, but now . . .

Sakura finally understood why he had laughed: because he couldn't do anything else but laugh.

She snorted a small giggle as the Copy Nin glanced at her. The perplexed look on his face was too much as she burst out in laughter. Even as she laughed her head off, he kept staring at her as if she'd finally cracked. Maybe she _had_ cracked. He hadn't meant to be mean, but she had him so wound up that he would have snapped over anything. The longer he peered at her, the longer she kept laughing. It made him grin slightly, then chuckle along with her. "I think you've finally lost it."

The kunoichi laughed softly, smiling as she looked at him while pointing. "I think I'm not the only one."

Kakashi bit the inside of his mouth to keep from chuckling any more. "Why are you laughing anyway?"

"I don't know. Why were we arguing anyway?"

He immediately sobered up at the reminder that they were supposed to be in the middle of an argument. "Sakura . . ."

She stopped laughing, the happy look turning back down into a contemplative sadness. "Don't start it again, Kakashi. We're both sorry for what was said, even if we both meant it. We need to move on and figure out what to do next."

"That wasn't what I was going to say . . ."

The pink-haired young woman blinked at him. "What were you going to say?"

Kakashi looked back at her, seriously. He could feel it on the tip of his tongue, the words he wanted to scream at her earlier, at the top of his lungs until she understood. If he could just tell her, maybe she would understand how much she mattered to him, that she wasn't useless or a burden to him, and was worth caring for. How could he not care for her? If only she could know how her second near-death experience reminded him all the important people he had failed in the past, and how he feared that, one day, he just might fail her as well. Couldn't she see that, starting those four years ago, she was the only person he didn't keep at arm's length? The weight of those words was too much, though; it would come out with all the heaviness of a confession rather than what he wanted her to know. Maybe it was a confession of sorts, one better kept to himself. "Nothing," he said quickly. "It's nothing."

Sakura shrugged as they moved on, thinking nothing of it. "What are we going to do now, anyway? If she sent those men after me . . ."

"Takara knows we're trying to swing the vote, or at least that we're the reason behind Hiro's sudden bad luck," the shinobi said as they walked down the pavement, turning back onto a busy, snow-covered street. "Even if we don't kill her, we need to stop her from trying anything else."

Sakura glanced over at him. "You're already forming a plan, aren't you?"

Kakashi's dark eye creased at her as he grinned. "Actually, I haven't any idea what we will do, only that it will be drastic."

Her green eyes rolled upwards. "Perfect . . ."

"We'll start with surveillance. If she sent those men, then she must be up to much more than getting even with you."

"She's probably with Hiro this time of day, in his office, or . . ."

"Leave that up to me," Kakashi said, just as she noticed a familiar brown pug lingering at his feet. A small smile crossed Sakura's face at the sight of Pakkun. "So that's how you found me . . ."

The dog snorted at her, brushing past her ankles to walk ahead of them. The Copy Nin smirked, turning his attention back towards her. "I'll get to that later. I'm seeing you back to the hotel first."

"I am fine, Kakashi. No need to baby-sit me," Sakura said with an annoyed crease to her forehead. "And I am feeling fine too, so stop worrying."

Yet, despite her words, her feet sluggishly plodded through the snow, giving away the lie. "Go back to the room and rest," he ordered her. "After what you've been through, and what they put into you, you need it. I'm only saying this because I care."

"Could have fooled me . . ." she grumbled darkly.

For a moment, Kakashi felt his heart sink. She really didn't believe that he cared. She hadn't truly thanked him for saving her, either, not that he hadn't already rescued her a few times over. Yet, this time the missing words truly felt missed by him. "Sakura . . ."

The kunoichi sighed and shuffled past him. "Alright, alright. I'll go. I'm not happy, but I'll go because you're probably right."

"Sakura," he called after her before she got much further down the block. She stopped and turned, looking up at him as the heavy snow fell around her. Kakashi's chest clenched painfully as he stuffed his hands back into his pockets. "I . . . do care. You know that, and you know why . . ."

A sad smile crossed her face before turning into one laced with false happiness for his benefit. "Yeah, I get it. Like I could forget, anyway. I won't do anything you wouldn't do."

"Promise?"

"Oh, get out of here already! I can at least walk back on my own! You're not my father!"

He smirked and started to turn away before hearing, "Hey! Kakashi!"

The shinobi turned back, a more genuine smile on her face this time. "Thank you, for being there in time."

He waved back with a short nod. "Don't mention it, Sakura-chan."

She waved and turned towards the rest of the street. Kakashi finally turned away too, and trotted off with Pakkun running after him down one of the alleys. He smiled to himself, knowing she would be going home after all, and that she would be kept safe. "The rest of us are following her. They'll report back if she doesn't make it or changes course," the pug said as they walked down the dark, narrow street. "You sure you only need me? If this woman is anywhere else besides that giant building . . ."

"Relax. I'm almost certain she's still there . . . How long had you been there, anyway?"

"Saw the whole thing from the roof. She is cute when she's angry with you . . . for a human."

Kakashi smirked. "At least you don't think I'm a fool, too."

"You? A fool? Never," Pakkun said with a grumble before seeming to yawn, when in actuality he was silently laughing at his master. "But . . ."

"But what?"

"But you should just mark her already. It would have made it easier to keep other dogs from trying to mate with her. The way you two fight, I'm surprised you're not mated already. You both act like a mated pair."

The silver-haired jounin's jaw dropped at the little dog's statement about him and Sakura, speechless for once in his four-legged companion's presence. Pakkun yawned again with a slight hiss and his brown eyes creased, and Kakashi knew he was being laughed at. The ninja grumbled, jumping up along the wall towards the roof. "Very funny. No more doggie snacks for you."

"Um, can we discuss that?" the pug pleaded, quickly following the ninja. "It was just a joke . . . Kakashi? . . . Kakashi!"

* * *

Far atop the streets that a certain pink-haired young woman and her silver-haired companion had just been walking across, two shinobi looked at each other, eyes communicating in silence. Neither of them said a word because there was no need to. Both of them had seen the scene played out to the end, their subjects moving on, and both of them were quickly forming the same opinion as they watched the Copy Nin vanish into the skyline. There was something deeper going on between those two, and just as it had made the basis of the dog's joke, it also made them wonder and think. Silently, after a few moments of quiet contemplation over what they had witnessed, they stood up and moved on. 

After all, the day wasn't over yet.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 09 of Dirty Deeds, Once More, With Feeling. 


	9. Once More, With Feeling

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 9 – Once More, With Feeling

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content, as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

"Why haven't you had sex in ten years, Kakashi?"

A dark eye, which had previously been unfocused while gazing out the window, suddenly focused solely on her face, widened in surprise before blinking in confusion. His pale eyebrow arched upwards. "I don't think I heard that right. Did you just ask me why I haven't had sex in ten years?"

The pink-haired woman across from him smiled beautifully. "I think I just did."

He resisted the impulse to sink into the plush chair, knowing it would betray his nervousness at her forward question if he did. Of all the things to ask him about, she just had to ask that particular question while looking like, well, that. Their table sat positioned by a large expanse of windows overlooking the city, perfectly creating a seemingly isolated location for just the two of them. And yet, the dim yellow lights in the restaurant alongside the moonlight spilling in through the glass must have been wreaking havoc with his sight as he swore he could see the mischievousness in her jade eyes. Was she trying to kill him or just publicly humiliate him? Kakashi couldn't decide which, only knowing that the kunoichi was up to no good, and it entailed him thoroughly. But, the question aside, what did she want from him?

He never should have let her talk him so easily into dinner at the upscale restaurant of their hotel perched near the penthouse level. He should have known something was up when she insisted they dress up for the night. He really should have known she had something planned when she emerged from their bedroom ready for the meal. Sakura looked beautiful that night, just as she had at the party weeks ago. Unlike that occasion, though, he could tell she was using her beauty as a weapon, an effective one being aimed directly at him. If he didn't know any better, but how he hoped he did, he'd say she looked like a woman baiting to entice. For a moment, he might have even sworn she was mimicking Takara, only with more elegance, but the blonde never affected him the way the cherry blossom did. Part of why he had asked for the window seating was so that he could find something to keep his eyes off of her.

It hadn't helped much.

The longer her green eyes looked at him wonderingly, the question hanging in the air between them, the more he felt that need to shift, move, fidget, just do something before he cracked like an egg. It became harder and harder not to stare at her face-to-face as she sat poised in the chair. The dress she wore was magnificent in its simplicity and its cut. Dark wool crepe the color of midnight sheathed her figure, starting from the shallow neckline that just skimmed her collarbone to stop just above the knee. Her pale arms were bare from the shoulders down while the back of her dress dipped low, stopping just below her shoulder blades. Her pink hair was carefully coiled and pinned to leave a lingering trail down the center of her back. The makeup she wore only enhanced the shadows and lights on the planes of her face. Well, the lighting helped too. In that dark of a place, it was too easy to get lost in those eyes of hers.

Snow fell lightly through the blue night sky, lit up by the city lights below. The sake must have been getting to him as he felt funny, which was odd since he'd never let himself over-drink at meals before, just at parties where he wouldn't be the only one getting sloshed. Or perhaps it was Sakura making him feel funny. It wasn't supposed to be a romantic evening, or any type of evening, just a decent dinner before they finally took down Takara. That was the reason why he'd agreed to what she'd asked for in the first place. Tomorrow was the big day for them both, but for her especially, yet . . . it didn't feel quite like that for Kakashi. No, if anything, he felt more as if he were strung up like a puppet with each line being tugged. She kept smiling at him, waiting patiently for an answer to her question. "Cat got your tongue?"

How exactly had this happened?

* * *

How exactly had this happened?

Sakura asked herself that question while looking at the IV line in her arm. She had come back to the hotel fine on her own, no problem, and then proceeded to treat herself for the drugging and the attack. After taking a quick, hot shower and changing into warm, clean clothes–dark blue pajama pants and an oversized grey shirt–she stuck herself with the needle and fluids from their supplies to flush the remains of the sedative from her system. Then, sitting there on the bed, she waited . . .

. . . and waited. The sun had gone down a few minutes ago, and Kakashi wasn't there. The bag hung on the bedpost while she lay there watching it drip into her.

How exactly had she ended up waiting like this? She grumbled, half-tempted to just rip the needle out, throw on a coat, and go running off after him. Damn that man for always being late! Sakura sighed and rolled over, wishing she'd pulled up the covers over her cold feet. He'd come back, eventually. He always had before. All he was doing was finding out what Takara was up to, after all. No need to be concerned about that, except that the woman he'd went looking for was, you know, a bit of a sociopath. Her anger turned for a second to worry before she reminded herself that this was Kakashi. The man was harder to kill than a cockroach, and she knew that well. Many people had already tried and failed horribly.

She sighed again and rolled in the other direction. Now, knowing one of her medical jutsus, he could only be even harder to kill. Her inner self nagged at her for doing that, even if it had saved her life. She had just made herself even more obsolete to him. Maybe if she taught him everything she knew, then she wouldn't need to go on all these missions with him and put up with his antics, quirks, and troublesome ways. She wouldn't keep getting nearly killed . . . wouldn't have half as much fun, or be as good at things outside of medical jutsu as she was. The kunoichi's mind had, somewhere in there, stopped thinking of all her experiences with Kakashi in the negative, enough to ask herself one question in particular: If their partnership were suddenly over, would she really miss it?

Now that was something worth answering, if only she could find the answer. Sakura honestly didn't know if she would miss it. Her inner self giggled over that question as well, as if it already knew the answer that should have been obvious enough, and it asked a question of its own: What would she miss more, the partnership or her partner?

Flopping uncomfortably in the bed, her arms crossed over her stomach as she angrily looked up. Now that was something she refused to answer, even if it nagged at her just as much. Well, of course she'd miss Kakashi! He'd always been there! But then again, he was himself; always was, and would be! Kakashi was . . . Kakashi, after all. He always would be there for her. Whether she willed it or not, a hot flush boiled up on her cheeks, turning them red. The human body truly was weird. Her cheeks could be burning with blush, but her toes still felt like icicles. Even that thought couldn't distract her from thinking about Kakashi, though. Sakura sat up abruptly, letting out a deep breath to clear her head. "Just leave me alone . . ."

"Well, if that's what you want, I'll just be outside."

The kunoichi jumped at the male voice that answered her, and then tumbled back down on the bed as she recognized it. "Sneaky bastard," she grumbled. "It's you."

"If you truly want me gone, I'll just go get us some dinner, maybe a movie, or a few good books–"

Sakura sat up again to see Kakashi half-turned in the glass window leading outside. For a split second, she thought she saw a smile on his face as he looked at her before asking, "Feeling better?"

Grumpy, she folded her legs and rested an elbow on her knee while propping up her chin. "Feeling bored is more like it. Please tell you found out something, anything, after being gone for so long?"

The ninja stepped down from the window ledge with a thump and a huff. He tossed his dark, heavy coat off, followed by the suit coat, and then yanked off the red tie tightened like a noose around his neck and undid a few shirt buttons. The black shoes he wore were kicked off with a heavy clunk before he flopped back on the bed beside her. Sakura looked at him curiously as he stretched out, seemingly exhausted, with just a hint of frustration in his movements. Then slowly, Kakashi's nose crinkled in distaste, and she just knew he had found out something he didn't like. The kunoichi leaned over his face, staring into his dark eye. "Something the matter? Or just contemplating homicide?"

He frowned. "I found her, all right."

"And?"

"And she was screwing the jack of spades."

Sakura's green eyes widened. "Nagano? That old fart? He told me he wasn't into blondes!"

"Well, he was definitely 'into' her," Kakashi muttered with emphasis. "Given the board is predominantly male, and that a few of them are older men with mixed morals . . ."

The kunoichi groaned and flopped down next to him as they both stared up at the ceiling. "This isn't good, but it _is_ something that she'd do. I should have known after I heard that rumor in the bathroom at the party that–"

"What? What rumor? You didn't tell me this. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because it was just a bunch of bitter women betting that Takara would sleep with the whole board to sway the vote. I didn't think much of it at the time."

His head slowly turned towards her. "Sakura . . ."

"Hey, you didn't listen to me about her, anyway. Now we're even."

Kakashi fought down the sigh, and looked up again. "This makes our game null and void."

"Damn, and it was getting to be such fun, too . . ."

"We'll still do what we can, but we need to do something else to break her away from Hiro."

Sakura scowled. "I still say we murder the wench."

The look he gave her was the same as every one she'd received shortly before he said her name in that disapproving tone of his. She didn't even have to hear it to know he was thinking it. Groaning, the kunoichi stopped to pull the IV from her arm before speaking. "I know what you're going to say, so don't even bother, but–"

"And I know how you're going to justify it, so don't even bother."

The two shinobi lay there, silent and contemplative, going over the exact same thing in their minds. Kakashi smirked, his foot idly kicking at the floor. "We need to teach them a lesson in humility, both of them."

"No kidding. Something so insidious and evil that they'll never want to look each other in the eye for a good, long time."

"What would send you running for the hills like that?" he asked suddenly.

Sakura blinked, rolling towards him. "Huh? As in . . ."

"If you were actually interested in some guy, what would completely scare you away?"

The kunoichi snorted in a short laugh, then rolled away and onto her stomach. Her feet twirled in the air as she pondered the question. "Finding him in bed with somebody else."

"That's exactly what Takara is accusing you of attempting to do, you know, seducing Hiro."

She groaned, burying her face in the bed sheets. Suddenly, her shins kicked at the mattress rapidly while her screams were deadened by all the fabric and fluff. Kakashi chuckled at the tantrum, allowing it if only because it amused him to see her so frustrated. Sakura calmed down, quickly enough to not breathe fire at him when her head rose up to look questioningly at him. "You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you? Seeing me want to claw that woman's eyes out?"

"That's a difficult question to answer . . . If I said I did, you'd hit me, but if I said I didn't, you'd be disappointed in me . . ." he answered, looking thoughtfully at her before grinning with his eye creased. "Which would you like me to say?"

Scowling, Sakura sat up on the back of her legs until she loomed over him. "I know what you're thinking, and it's that we should do exactly what that woman thinks we're doing. It won't work, Kakashi."

His dark eye shifted away from her for a moment. "I know it won't. I had thought about it, but you're right, it won't. It won't give Jun-san her husband back, and it won't make him suffer as well."

"Why do you think Hiro's strayed this far? Separating from Jun I can see, given their history, but why fall for Takara?" she wondered out loud before frowning. "Aside from the sex, she's got nothing but looks to offer. No money of her own, no power; all of her influence is in other men she's fooling around with. Why is she so desperate to overthrow Jun, anyway? It's like she has . . ."

"A personal vendetta?"

"Exactly! Only a person that wants revenge for something would be this possessed . . ." Sakura trailed off, trying not to frown. "Just like Sasuke and his brother."

Kakashi nodded, but didn't elaborate on the topic, as Sakura's green eyes showed all of her thoughts on that matter, which was nothing but disappointment. Slowly, she lay back down and rolled towards him, onto her side. He couldn't help but look with how close she was to him. Usually, he didn't mind the proximity, let alone notice. He was noticing now, though. But as quickly as he had looked, first at her face and then downwards, he looked away, staring back up at the ceiling. No, he was just seeing things. Her breasts were as small and as perky as ever. He coughed, and rolled away from her. The pink-haired woman got up slightly, leaning on her elbows to look at her partner curiously. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just fine," he muttered between breaths, refusing to roll back. Sakura sighed and rolled onto her back. He was acting weird, but then again, when did Kakashi not act weird? She pushed the thought from her mind, turning back to the problem at hand. Her lips quirked to the side while her arms crossed over her stomach as she concentrated her focus on Hiro. He was the one in the middle of it all, wasn't he? As much as she hated Takara and how much she got in the way, he was the cause of everything. What could they do to him to dislodge him from the tramp and send him running back to his wife? No, above all, what could they do to make him pay? "Kakashi?" Sakura asked as her fingers drummed on her forearm.

The ninja gave a grunt, indicating that he was listening.

"What's your worst nightmare?"

He blinked, even if she didn't see it. "What kind of question is that?"

"You know, the type of thing that, should it happen, you'd never live it down? Like standing naked in the middle of the Konoha shopping district? Or waking up to someone completely ugly?"

Kakashi snorted a chuckle. "Kind of like what happened to you and dog-boy?"

A foot kicked his leg, but he didn't move or even flinch. "The only reason why I can't live down Kiba is because you won't let it die! Be serious, you bastard, and don't change the subject!"

"Fine, my worst nightmare would be waking up with a hangover, sleeping next to Gai, naked. Satisfied?"

From the inane giggling coming from over his shoulder, he could tell Sakura was more than satisfied. At least she was happy. His mind felt dirty now for imagining such a thing, and all because of her stupid question. It was one thing to wake up next to another male, but waking up next to the green-clad terror of taijutsu would be enough to turn him celibate permanently. The ninja blinked, repeating that line of thought in his head, or at least the last part of it, the idea of waking up to another man naked. Slowly, Kakashi turned onto his back to stare straight up as his jaw went slack. "That's it."

Sakura's eyebrows arched curiously, her laughter coming to a halt. Just as she stopped, though, the ninja started, snorting a chuckle first and then laughing darkly. The sound of the evil little chuckles coming from her partner made the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. This couldn't be good, especially with that slightly wild and dangerous gleam in his eye. She sat up, staring at him. "You . . . you have a plan now, don't you?"

Kakashi gave a short nod and a sense of dread dropped into the pit of her stomach. "Oh no."

"Oh no, indeed. But . . ."

"But what?"

"Well, it's brilliant, but risky, but still brilliant, and malicious. He would kill us if he ever figured it out, but it works. We could actually pull it off. It'll scare the living hell out of him and send Takara running, or unmask her for what she is if she accepts it. It's . . . perfect."

Just like trust, perfect was a four letter word coming out of Kakashi's mouth. None of his plans were ever 'perfect', no matter how many times he declared that blasted word. Sakura glared at the silver-haired man, then bounded over him and off the bed to walk towards the bathroom. "Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it."

He sat up, turning towards her just as she reached the door. "Yes, you do. You know you want to."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I really don't."

"Yes, you do, because even if it might not be perfect, it'll work. My plans always work."

Sakura stopped in the door way and flinched. He had her there. Even if his plans were never flawlessly foolproof or executed perfectly, they still worked all the damned time. She turned back around and walked back towards the bed as Kakashi patted the spot next to him. Still glaring at him, she had a seat with her arms neatly folded in her lap. "If this plan is as ridiculous as I think it is, it can't possibly work."

"But it can . . ."

"How? What insane idea have you concocted this time to solve all our problems?" she asked with enough sarcasm for the both of them. Yet, Kakashi still grinned at her, happily even. "We're going to give Hiro my worst nightmare, and Takara's worst case scenario."

Sakura's eyes rose up in surprise, then sunk down again as she smirked. "Gai's all the way in Konoha, and even then, he wouldn't do it, and Hiro won't fall for him no matter how much we ply him with alcohol."

"I wasn't suggesting Gai, per se . . ."

The way his voice trailed off made her eyebrows shoot up again. "You're suggesting we put another guy in Hiro's bed . . . and arrange that Takara walks in on it?!"

"Well, when you put it like that, it does seem kind of . . . challenging . . ." he said thoughtfully, scratching his chin. In spite of her misgivings before hearing the whole plan, Sakura giggled. "All right, how?"

"By using the Sexy no jutsu, some alcohol, and genjutsu. Easy enough, really. Just make him believe he went home drunk with a woman and then surprise him when he wakes up in bed with a man. Naruto could do it with his eyes closed."

Sakura frowned as he avoided most of the details, but left one in that could instantly stop his plan before it started. "Genjutsu doesn't work on Hiro."

Kakashi blinked at her. "What?"

"Genjutsu, it doesn't work on him. I tried it earlier during lunch to make him walk into the ladies room instead of the men's, and it didn't work. Maybe he's too smart for it or something. I don't know how it didn't work, but it didn't work, so it doesn't work."

"I get the point, it won't work," the Copy Nin said, his eye narrowing on her. "So that's why you dragged me there for lunch . . ."

The kunoichi laughed nervously, scratching the side of her face. "Well, we did have a game going on, which I was losing. You can't blame me for trying . . . But this is beside the point! If we can't use genjutsu on him–"

"It just complicates things a little . . ." Kakashi said calmly before trailing off. With a calculating glance in his dark eye, he focused on Sakura as if he was measuring her up. She scooted away on instinct, peering around just to make sure he really was looking at her before asking, "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," he said before standing up from the bed. "Just that it'll have to be you."

"Huh?" she asked as he walked away from her towards the kitchen. "What do you mean me? What about me? Kakashi!"

Sakura shuffled quickly after the ninja, finding him scribbling fast inside one of their notebooks at the table. She blinked in distraction. It wasn't like him to write so quickly and sloppily. Now what was he doing? Moving behind his shoulder, she read the first item on the list and gasped. "Opium?! Kakashi! What are you planning?!"

"The cure to our problems," he said as he stopped writing long enough to look annoyed at her. "Please be careful with my name. It wears out easily."

Yet the glare she gave him said his name loud and clear, in a peevish tone that wouldn't be ignored. The shinobi didn't glare back but continued writing. "We are going to drug Hiro with a concoction I know of that is part hypnotic and part tranquilizing; not only will he be knocked out and have one nasty hangover once it's mixed in alcohol, but . . . it also makes the victim more susceptible to genjutsu . . . It will work; it always works."

"So you're an herbalist now too?" she said with disdain, trying not to sniff at him. "Why do you even keep me around then? You did some of my medical jutsu. You probably know as much about poison-making and antidotes as I do. Is there anything that I am better at than you? Maybe? Just a little?"

She certainly was more pleasing to look at than he was. Kakashi stopped writing at that thought, grateful he didn't say it out loud. Putting the pen down, he looked at her. "Don't sell yourself short, Sakura. You were one of my students, after all. The first thing you mentioned was out of necessity, which you don't seem all that thankful for as well."

The pink-haired woman looked down sheepishly. "Right. I'm sorry. I am thankful."

"Don't be too sorry," he said before continuing. "The other things, like this drug, are just some small things I keep crammed away in the back of my mind with all one thousand plus other ninjutsu techniques. Besides, I only know the recipe, and we both know I am not a cook."

Sighing, the kunoichi hunched over the table. "All right, so we slip this concoction of yours into one of Hiro's drinks . . . I'm still confused as to how all of this will come together."

"Well, this next part is why I do keep you around . . ."

Sakura looked at him blankly, un-amused as he explained. "One of us needs to be the person Hiro takes home and wakes up to. They will meet him, seduce him, and drug him before anything happens, then use genjutsu to fiddle with his memory enough to convince him that he did sleep with someone the night before, making it all the more shocking when he wakes up to the same person in his bed . . . just with a few changes. Then we just need some dressing to the scene to make it work, and to send the mistress in . . . plus a convincing player to sell them both on the story."

The kunoichi nibbled on her lip in worry. "That's what you meant earlier, isn't it? That it'll have to be me to seduce Hiro?"

He nodded. "I never thought Naruto's dirty little jutsu would be this useful, but it is. Only problem with me is there's too much of a discrepancy, but . . ."

Her eyes narrowed on him. "My Sexy no jutsu is not that effeminate, Kakashi."

"I wouldn't say effeminate, Sakura-chan," he argued with a happy eye crease. "But I would say more androgynous."

"That's almost the same thing!"

"Whatever you think, it is exactly what we need, which is all that matters."

She frowned, pushing that topic aside as he went back to writing. Kakashi tore off the sheet and neatly folded it. "I'll call us a messenger bird later to deliver this back to Konoha. We should be able to get the rest of the supplies around here."

"Why me? Really? You could do it on your own if you wanted to. Your henge can do the job, you and I both know that, and your Sharingan would be more effective than my genjutsu. So why me?"

"Because your skills as an actress are more convincing than mine."

"Like that bit today with the coffee wasn't convincing enough?" she asked as he suppressed a cringe. "Stop skirting around the reason and tell me!"

He let out a slow breath, running a hand through his hair. "Because . . . because you're a woman. Women are better at these types of things against men."

"That's a very . . ." Sakura trailed off, not wanting to finish the accusation. "I don't believe you. That sounds more like something Genma would say."

He had to admit, it did sound suspiciously like something his friend would say. Kakashi frowned. "Believe me or not, but we both know it's true. It's why kunoichi were first trained back in feudal times. It's why male shinobi are sent after female targets. Think of it as instinct: each gender knows what to say to the other to get what they want . . . most of the time."

"What do you mean most of the time?"

For a brief moment, he looked almost worried. "Ignore me," the ninja said as he stood up, "I'm just being paranoid again."

Sakura turned in the chair, following him with her eyes. "Wait. What is it now?"

"Just a nagging feeling I have that could make this whole plan worthless," Kakashi said as he stopped in the doorway. "When was the last time you showed an interest in men, for a mission or otherwise?"

She blinked and scratched her head, trying to think of when exactly. "Well, there was my twenty-first birthday . . ."

"Drunken one-night stands don't count."

Sakura sighed, leaning back heavily in her chair. "I don't exactly recall. Most of it just seems to happen to me. I've never really actively pursued men . . . And we haven't needed me to use seduction in order to get the job done. My supposed experience has nothing to do with this . . ." Her green eyes narrowed on him suspiciously. "I don't know what the point you're trying to make is, but if I'm the only one who can pull this off, I will."

Kakashi gave her a blank look of disbelief, then slowly nodded. "I'm sure you will."

Her head snapped back slightly. "You don't believe I can. That's what has you worried."

"I don't doubt your abilities, Sakura, which is why I'm writing this off as paranoia."

Her arms crossed with an angry huff. "You don't think I'm sexy enough to pull him away from Takara."

"I never said that," he muttered, beginning to wonder where her newfound habit of rearranging his words to come up with the worst ideas came from, "and I will be taking care of Takara for that evening, so do not worry."

"But you still don't think I can do it."

Kakashi grinned at her, his eye creased happily. "You can do anything you put your mind to, Sakura-chan, eventually."

* * *

She leaned on the table with one elbow, her head bent slightly to the side to regard him curiously. He could see the pulse in her neck thump, his eye directed downwards by a long, dangling earring, and it made him jump slightly. The ninja shook his head slightly, focusing back on the then and there, and what she had asked. "What was the question again?"

Sakura smiled, sitting up straight again. "If you don't want to answer, I'll understand."

Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly, for no more than a moment. No, she wouldn't understand, but she would graciously pretend to. "It is a bit of a personal question, and an unexpected one," he tried to reason. "Why are you so curious?"

"Because you've never told me why and yet you know why I abstain. Stop stalling."

"I'm not stalling. I'm just trying to figure out the sudden interest."

The answer brought another beautiful smile to her face as she reached across the table to refill her sake cup and his with the fine porcelain decanter. "Maybe I'm interested because I'm interested," Sakura said as his pulse jumped again along with the newly formed lump in his throat until she giggled at him. "Not that type of interested, Kakashi, I'm just curious. I mean, we are friends after all."

There was that word again, 'friends'. Just the sound of it made him want to frown. Whoever put that word in the dictionary to define a relationship that was neither love nor hate had a cruel sense of humor. Kakashi didn't want to answer her question, really, not with her looking or acting like temptation embodied in the female form. It opened up too many doors regarding her that he'd rather be kept shut, locked, and bolted closed. It demanded clear answers to questions like why he kept staring at her, why their last argument affected him so much, how much her cared about her, and innumerable other little things he didn't want to think about. Answers and opened doors would make him wonder too much, and he didn't like it.

But as she licked her lips, removing the last traces of garnet-colored stain, the wanting to let her know nagged at him too much to be ignored. They were supposed to be friends, after all, so why not a friendly little discussion?

Skipping over the alcohol, he took a sip of ice water instead before answering. "It's because I'm not interested in sex."

Sakura's eyebrows rose up, just begging for him to continue, which he did after finally swallowing the lump in his throat. "Yes, I know it's hard to believe given the rumor mills, but believe me when I say I'm not interested in the real thing."

"Why?"

"Why not? All it does it cause trouble, doesn't it?"

She sunk slightly in her chair, hands folded in her lap. "Yes, you're right. It is trouble, of course. It's messy, sometimes painful–"

"It brings too much emotional baggage–"

"–it makes a person feel vulnerable, needy–"

"Exactly. All it does is confuse someone; it makes you think you know someone when you don't. I don't want to have to deal with any of that."

"But sometimes isn't it just sex, Kakashi?" Sakura asked with a genuine thread of wonder in her voice. "I admit I probably haven't had as much experience as you, but . . . sometimes doesn't it just feel like a need you have to fulfill?"

"That can happen, yes, but . . . after this long of a time, I've just stopped feeling that need, so I don't pursue it, not even one-night stands."

"Why?"

"You know, you do sound like you're fresh out of the academy by asking that," he pointed out, smirking slightly.

While she would have normally laughed at his quip, the kunoichi just smiled. "You're still male. Every man I am friends with tells me the same thing, and that is that they do think about it, constantly, even if they have wives or lovers. You cannot tell me you're that immune to it."

"I have my own ways of dealing with the lack of sex."

"Like with Icha Icha? What happened to your book again?" Sakura asked with a small smile while looking down at her finished plate.

Kakashi's eye narrowed onto her. "You're teasing me."

"Perhaps I am, but you're the one letting it get to you tonight," she pointed out. He opened his mouth to argue before closing it again. She was right. He was letting her get to him over something that didn't matter, probably because he wasn't too sure how to deal with her. It was almost as if she was acting like him to an extent; still the sweet Sakura he knew, but . . . not. He wasn't too sure who the woman across from him was, but the thought unnerved him that he couldn't see through her anymore, not when she was this . . .

Charming, yes, that was how she was that evening: charming, teasing, flirty, and it made his spine tingle as much as the alcohol and conversation. Kakashi's hand shot out to grasp the sake cup, downing the entire shot as her green eyes widened slightly. He then got up from the table and started to walk past her before stopping to bend over and whisper in her ear as she sat stiffly. "I am not immune, Sakura, but some things are more important and worth more of my time. That's my answer. Given that you are no better than me in that department, you should know how that feels. If you still need to ask me why then I would suggest asking yourself the same question first."

He stood up again and walked across the restaurant towards the men's room. Sakura let out the breath she had been holding in his presence, letting the act of eloquence and maturity drop for a moment to lean back heavily in her chair. She should not have done that. She should not be playing with fire, not with him. Damn him for making her nerves fray like that, and for answering so honestly. What he said was the last thing she expected to hear, that some things are more important. She couldn't deny that being the truth, but if he could have said anything else, anything less noble, then it would have washed away some of her guilt regarding what she was about to do to him.

Slowly, Sakura slid her small handbag off the table and opened it to put her hand inside. She slipped into her hand a small vial with an eyedropper attached to the lid. Gazing into the clear liquid inside, the kunoichi was tempted to put it back, to just imagine she hadn't put it into her handbag with the intent to use it at all. Her hand shook slightly as she placed the vial on the table before her, looking at it, then at the room around her, to see if anyone had noticed it. If he never would have said anything, if he hadn't told her how effective this little vial of power was, she might not have been tempted at all, but . . .

Sometimes Kakashi didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

* * *

Sakura put the vial of clear liquid on the counter, then let her hand fall limply to the side. She stared at it, then around the kitchen to see if he had noticed that she was finished. The ingredients had come in that Saturday morning by messenger bird from Konoha. A message was attached to the bird as well. It was from her mentor, the Godaime: "I don't know what you two are planning, and I don't want to know either."

Kakashi had smirked as he read off the personal note from their Hokage, but Sakura could sympathize with the poor woman. If she had just sent two good but potentially reckless shinobi a bird carrying enough illegal drugs to stone a small apartment complex, she'd worry too. The distilling took most of the morning to do, during which her silver-haired partner knew well enough to leave her alone, but not completely alone. He did that by sitting at the kitchen table, pretending to read a local newspaper––something that wasn't Icha Icha Paradise related. When she started to clean up and glanced over her shoulder to see him looking at her, she knew he had finally caught on that she was done. Not soon afterwards, the ninja stood up from the table and walked behind her, snatching up the vial. "So, this is it."

"Are you sure it will work?" Sakura asked as she washed her hands in the sink.

"Second-guessing me now?"

The kunoichi's eyes rolled. "Me? Second-guessing you? Wouldn't dream of it."

She shut off the water and turned towards him. Kakashi grinned for a moment under his mask, then put the vial back down. "It will work. It'll be tomorrow night, then. Are you ready?"

Taking in a deep breath, then letting it out, Sakura nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be . . . You still aren't having doubts, are you?"

There was an analyzing look in his dark eye as he regarded her. With the mask back on, as it was whenever they were alone in the hotel suite, she couldn't tell what he thought anymore. All she could tell was that a thread of doubt still existed in him, evident in how silent he went. "So, you do," Sakura scowled, angrily turning away. "Fine. No matter what you think, I will pull this off. Hiro won't know what hit him."

Kakashi's shoulders slumped at the pissed and stubborn tone in her voice. He didn't even say anything and already she was mad at him. As if the past few days of playing with Hiro's bad luck to little success weren't trying enough. It wasn't a matter of doubting her personal abilities that gave him pause, but the voracious need to know this wasn't going to fail. The days until the board vote were winding down. Sakura admitted herself the other day that she attracted men without even trying, and he knew that was mostly because they already knew her. Could she possibly convince a man, that didn't know her at all, to take her back to his apartment to sleep with her? Even he knew the cherry blossom was never that forward in what she wanted. Would she be able to fake it? The shinobi frowned. "Just don't mess up. We only have one shot at this."

"Yes, I know," she muttered as he saw her hands gripping the counter tightly.

"This stuff is powerful, so only three drops at most in any alcohol will be enough."

"I understand," Sakura said with a nod, going back to washing up. The ninja started to move away from her and the vial, stopping in the kitchen doorway when he heard his name. "Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

"How did you find this recipe anyway? I haven't seen anything like it before."

The memory of that episode in his life as an ANBU operative filtered through his head quickly as he blinked before answering. "I beat it out of two other shinobi from Hidden Mist."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know what it was after the female of the pair used it on me."

Sakura looked at him in shock, her jaw dropped. "It's powerful enough to beat the Sharingan?"

Kakashi nodded. "I learned my lesson after that. No more sleeping with women outside the village I didn't already know, or leaving my unattended drinks with them."

"You're lucky they didn't kill you."

"You're probably right, but . . . I had a good team at the time that found me before that could happen. The other two shinobi weren't so lucky, although . . . I suppose everything turned out all right in the end."

The ninja walked out, leaving her staring at the empty space he had been standing in. Slowly, Sakura's eyes drifted back down to the vial on the counter. The thought that such a small thing could be Kakashi's weakness both unnerved her and excited her senses. Every time someone tried to overcome him with genjutsu, it never worked. Even as good as she was with that technique, her jutsu's never worked on him either. Yet, with the help of that little vial, she could make him believe whatever she wanted him to believe. Her inner self cooed over the thought, already devising plans to equal the amount of payback he deserved from her.

Sakura shook her head of those thoughts, though. There was no way she would drug him. It betrayed the very foundations of their trust. He would kill her if she failed, or never speak to her again if she succeeded, and yet . . . there was still the temptation to prove to him that she was woman enough to seduce Hiro. Her anger burned at the very suggestion. How could he doubt her in the first place? It was as if he refused to see her as a woman, just his medic and partner, not that she wanted him to look at her that way, but still! What did she have to prove to him to make him believe in her? It would be worth it to see the look on his face if something like what they had planned for Hiro happened to him.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she paused. Why not? She had the vial, and the will to do it to prove herself. Why not mess with Kakashi's head a little? He deserved it for doubting her, and would probably laugh it off anyway since she wouldn't really hurt him, right? Maybe then he'd think more highly of her as well for successfully pulling one over on him. He messed with her head all the time. Why not? Inner Sakura cheered over the plan forming in her mind, encouraging her all the more to teach the Copy Nin a lesson for doubting his partner. She grabbed the vial from the counter and slipped it into her pant pocket, stuffing her hand around it to make sure it was concealed. Walking out of the kitchen, Sakura found him lounging on the couch. She moved around him and into the bedroom, leaving the door open as she quickly pulled the vial back out to look at it once more. "Kakashi?" she called from inside the room.

"Yes?"

"You know, we really should go out tonight since tomorrow is the big night."

"We could just order in."

"There is that fancy place on the penthouse level. Didn't you see the flyer when we checked in?"

"And I say again, we could just order in."

"Kakashi . . . please?"

" . . . All right, but I am not dressing up."

"But I'm sure you almost have to in order to get a table there . . . I heard it's worth it."

". . . I don't know about that."

"Please?"

". . . All right, but only for you, because you asked."

Sakura rolled the vial around in her palm, a small, malevolent smile on her face. "Thank you, Kakashi."

* * *

His feet felt sluggish on the hallway carpet, and he was almost sure they were dragging as he walked a few paces behind Sakura. The ninja looked up to see her ahead of him, sinuously gliding down the hall with ease. A thought crossed his mind at random as to why he always liked walking in the rear while on missions because she looked so good in back. Seeing her from behind always gave him a small thrill he allowed himself, but that dress in particular was made to be seen on a woman walking away. The dip in the middle of the low back neckline was perfectly rounded. The zipper hanging at the center drew his eye down the entirety of her back to a small slit in the skirt that flared open with each step she took. Even the seam lines down the back of her dark stockings got his approval.

Kakashi smirked to himself, trying not to let the buzz in his head affect his better judgment. He really needed to get a tighter grip on himself around Sakura, especially with how much he'd drank hitting him this hard. If he did anything remotely 'unfriendly' towards her, it would shatter whatever was left of the delicate equilibrium between them. The only thing he could allow himself was to drink in the fact that the pink-haired woman was beautiful and would be sleeping beside him again tonight. Thank the gods she was oblivious, though. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark pants, leaning against the wall by their door as she put the card that passed for keys in their hotel into the lock. She looked over at him for a moment, her green eyes seemingly worried as he rubbed his forehead, then his left eye through the patch over it. "Are you all right? Something bothering you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine . . ." the silver-haired shinobi said slowly, as if his tongue was coated in molasses. "Just drank a few too many."

She smiled, and pushed the door open. "At least you had fun. I knew you would."

He snorted at the statement. Only Sakura would think a fancy dinner with an excuse to dress up was fun. Walking in behind her, the pink-haired woman moved left towards the kitchen as he went right towards the bedroom. "I'm going to get some water before turning in. You look like you could use a glass too," she called from across the room.

"Sure . . ." Kakashi called back before ignoring everything else but the bed before him. He staggered slightly while kicking off the low shoes, then slowly sunk down until he sat bent over. Groaning, the buzz in his head seemed to double in intensity as he closed his eye. Either that sake was very potent, or he wasn't feeling very well. He was almost sure he kept it to just four or five cups of sake at most. And the funny part was that the alcohol's effect didn't seem to kick in until he got back from the bathroom. He should have skipped Sakura's suggestion for one last drink before they left, but the miser and drunkard in him couldn't see it go to waste. He groaned and tried to pull the dark red shirt he wore from his pants, not getting very far before the urge to sleep kicked in hard.

Kakashi lay back, then rolled over on his side, trying to keep down the dying sounds from his dry throat. She was going to kill him for getting wasted and for making her doctor what would be a killer hangover in the morning. He chuckled a little to himself at the thought that he would actually enjoy the feisty little woman attempting to murder him. Her temper was so cute . . . Maybe just a little nap would make him feel a bit better . . .

* * *

Another night, and another collection of take-out boxes littered the table of the cramped hotel room, piled around a small speaker and receiver sitting in the middle. Genma had stopped eating a long time ago, but still sifted through the nearly empty carton with his chopsticks as if he was going to eat something. Ino gave up watching him to look out the bedroom window instead. Eventually, after every meal, the ninja would get bored enough to stop playing with his food and join her in the watch. The telescope and tripod they had invested in when their surveillance turned more long-term gave a much clearer view of the hotel window opposite theirs and the people within. The blonde sat in a chair before it, gazing out the eyepiece and into the darkened windows. Kakashi and Sakura had just arrived back moments ago from dinner, and the older shinobi looked wasted as he collapsed on the bed.

She sighed, and sat back in the chair, the view no longer all that interesting. "Looks like another boring night."

Genma grunted, which was agreement enough. Ino turned in the chair just in time to see him finally place the carton down and stand up. "Ever since Sakura was attacked, nothing's happened," he grumbled while reaching into a sack of groceries sitting on the dresser, pulling out a can of tea. "Why can't Kakashi just get it through his head to really tell her he cares. It's as transparent as glass."

"And both of them are as dense as lead. Even if he didn't say it, Sakura should have picked it up by now, but she hasn't. I don't get it. If I was her, I would have seen it by now in how he acts around her," Ino declared while motioning towards the window. "What more does he have to do for her to understand?"

"No, you wouldn't have seen it," the brown haired ninja argued as he opened the can and sat down behind her on the bed. "Women claim then can pick up subtleties in attitudes, but I don't believe it."

"What do you believe then?"

"That women see what they want to see in men, regardless if it's true or not. If Sakura wants to believe he doesn't care, then to her he doesn't care."

The blonde snorted in indignation at the very idea. "Women aren't alone in preconceived notions when it comes to interaction with the opposite gender. Men keep on flirting even when a woman makes her lack of interest well known."

Genma winced. "Ouch. I'm pained, deeply, but you can't blame a guy for being persistent, can you?"

"Persistence and annoyance are synonymous," Ino grumbled as the shinobi broke out into mock-death moans while falling all over the bed. "Don't be such a baby. You should just admit that both genders are oblivious to one another . . . especially the supposedly intelligent ones."

Lying down sideways on the bed, he caught a hint of the regret in her gaze before she turned back towards the window. She was thinking about him again, Shikamaru, and probably thinking at that very moment about how the man was slipping away from her. If it pained her, it wounded him to see her act like that over a man that probably barely acknowledged her anymore. No, that wasn't it; that was the noble side of him that felted for her. His more selfish half lamented because she already thought of herself as taken. Ino wasn't his to have, and that fact ate at him. Even if she felt anything for him, she would never show it because of her love for someone who wouldn't love her back.

Not debating with her anymore, Genma rolled away, not caring that a small amount of cold tea fell on the twisted sheets. He wanted this feeling to go away, the one of hopelessness and inconsequence that came up each time he thought of the blonde. Yet, as much as he wanted it to go away, a small fear hit him that once their mission was over, the feeling would be gone on its own. No matter how strongly he would sometimes feel for a woman, it would eventually go away as soon as they parted. Contrary to all the rumors, it was always the woman that left him, never him leaving her. He always let go first. Why else would he never truly let one into his life if they always left anyway? Any intelligent man would do the same. It was probably the same reason why the Nara kid didn't let her into his life, afraid that it would never be the same once she left it.

He sat up again, and opened his mouth to say as much, when he noticed that Ino was staring through the telescope again, her face flushed. The bed creaked as he stood up see what the matter was when she jumped at the sound. Her blue eyes stared up at him, big in the low light of the room, and a touch nervous as they slowly glanced back towards the telescope. Genma's curiosity was definitely raised. "What is it?"

"You should turn the speaker on . . . and then get the binoculars."

Something had to have Ino spooked. Moving quickly, he placed the drink down and turned on the speaker before taking up the spyglasses. The sound of clothes rustling wasn't unexpected . . . except for the fact that when he looked it was Sakura who was removing them from Kakashi. He stared through the binoculars in disbelief. "What the hell? What is she doing? Giving him a medical exam?"

"He passed out a few minutes ago, looked drunk to me, but . . ."

"Why is she pulling down his underwear?"

"Do I look like a mind reader to you?" Ino shot back, barely keeping down the raging blush across her cheeks. "Well, she's removing them methodically enough as if she was giving him an exam."

"Maybe she's decided to play doctor?"

The blonde snorted. "Yeah right, Sakura would never take advantage–"

"Holy shit!" Genma crowed as he heard and saw the zipper slide down her back. "She's getting naked too!"

Her jaw dropped as she watched, indeed seeing her best friend slip out of her dress and lingerie before donning a white robe. Even more to their mutual disbelief was that Sakura then sat down on the only chair in the room, her green eyes glued to the naked body of Kakashi lying on the bed. A creeping sensation ran down Ino's spine at the sight, trying to keep her concentration away from the Copy Nin and onto what the pink-haired woman was doing. What was she doing, anyway? Even Genma felt nervous as she just sat there. "I don't like this . . ."

Then, after she seemed to take a deep breath, Sakura made a short series of hand seals, which were followed by a moan . . . from Kakashi. The shinobi paled, sinking back down to sit on the bed. "I really don't like this."

* * *

Everything felt, well, for lack of a better term, fuzzy to Kakashi. The buzz caused by the alcohol was gone from his head, replaced with the feeling of cotton being stuck in the spaces of his brain not crowded by jutsus. He didn't feel like sleeping so much anymore, but he didn't feel awake either. The only thing he clearly did feel was the sensation of something cold pressed against his cheek. Slowly, he cracked his eye open to see glass block his view and water sloshing around within. He pulled back, and the glass lifted away to reveal Sakura looking down at him, smiling gently. She sat on the edge of the bed, somewhat bent over him, holding two tumblers filled with water, one in each hand. "You all right? You look like you passed out for a little."

He sunk back and rolled off of his side. He had passed out. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just the sake getting to me," the ninja said as he ran a hand through his hair. "How long was I out?"

She got up from the bed and moved across the room in a graceful stride, his eye glued again to her legs as she spoke. "Just a few minutes."

Before he could look away, Sakura caught the glance as a small grin spread across her face. "I've been noticing you doing that more, when I'm not looking, of course."

Kakashi jumped up, the sheet tumbling down his naked torso. Wait. He was naked? A hand slapped over the uncovered Sharingan. Even his eye patch was gone! He grabbed the covers tightly, quickly pulling them around him. How did he get naked? "Um, Sakura?" he asked, trying not to act as nervous as he felt. "Where are my clothes?"

"On the floor, you must have taken them off by the time I got in here," she said while gently placing the glasses on one of the dark wooden dressers with a soft clink. He still shifted nervously despite seeing his clothes where she said they would be, in a trail around the bed. "So you didn't . . .?" Kakashi started to ask before the rest of the question stuck in his throat.

Sakura's grin widened as her lashes lowered. "I didn't see anything I haven't seen before."

He finally relaxed. "Oh."

With a small laugh, she turned back around on her heels. "Doesn't mean I don't like looking."

A very small part of Kakashi's mind that wasn't still clogged by the alcohol caught her words and raised an alarm that brought the rest of his higher brain functions to a grinding halt. He looked at her blankly. She could not have just said that. "Excuse me?"

The playful look that had been on Sakura's face disappeared, replaced with a serious expression as she lifted a hand to her strawberry pink hair. Delicately, her fingers pulled out the hair pins one by one with a metallic click, putting them down by the glasses of water. Her hair tumbled down as she shook it out, letting the long waves fall over her shoulders. He stiffened as she started to walk slowly across the room to his bedside, balling the sheet into a fist over his hips. "I know why you keep looking at me, Kakashi," she said before stopping beside him.

"I don't know what you're–"

"Don't deny it. We both know it's true."

His jaw snapped shut. Well, there really was no point in denying it. She smiled victoriously, bending over slightly to whisper. "I never did really thank you for saving me."

"Sakura, there's no need to–"

"I know, but . . . after our talk tonight, I couldn't help but feel . . . I don't know. I guess I'm just feeling a little lonely, and you deserve . . . Don't tell me you don't want this too."

Kakashi squashed the urge to move away as Sakura moved closer. His heart pounded. This wasn't happening. He had to be dreaming. She would never, ever, not this easily . . . would she? The whisper of breath over his cheek felt real enough along with the dip in the bed next to him. He heard the snap at the top of her dress pop, followed by the slide of the zipper, causing the better side of his judgment to panic. His hand grabbed her shoulder, pushing her back slightly. "Sakura, we really shouldn't do this."

"Then why do you keep looking at me?"

Because she was the most beautiful, clever, and skilled woman he'd known that he couldn't bring himself to touch? Because she was meant to be seen and adored by everyone that knew her, including him? Because they were supposed to be 'just friends', whatever that meant anymore?

"Because I've got nothing else to look at?"

The smirk on Sakura's face clearly gave away her disbelief. Shit. Why couldn't he be a better liar with her? She stood up again and one shoulder of her dress fell away, the moonlight outlining her figure. The zipper slid the rest of the way down under her hands. She then shrugged the other shoulder off, letting the dark wool dress flow over her body and onto the floor. His pulse hammered in his veins, blood rushing at the sight into areas that hadn't felt such a thing in a very long time. Sakura nibbled on her lip while running a hand down the black lace of her bra and over her pale stomach to hook a thumb into more black lace just skimming the edge of her very skimpy panties. Her other hand dangled by her thigh, barely touching the top of black stockings.

Every part of his mind stood in awe of the kunoichi, too dumbstruck to come up with one logical reason why he should deny her. In fact, every part of his body below his rational mind was overjoyed at the idea of sleeping with Sakura. She was serious, and looked very good in black lace. If she was pulling his strings anymore, he didn't feel a thing. He didn't feel much of anything except the blood rush. Yet, the reverie was broken as she spoke. "You're looking now."

Logic finally kicked into Kakashi's mind. If he was going to succumb to something he had been denying himself for so long, there was one thing he wanted to know first. "Why now?"

Sakura knelt down on the bed next to him, her arms reaching out to encircle his neck. "Because I nearly died, twice now. Either of us could die tomorrow or who knows when. If I don't have this moment now, with you, I'll never get it back again."

It was reason enough. He kissed her, barely tasting her lips before she responded, moaning into his mouth. Her arms tightened around his neck, mouth crushing into his as he pulled her into his lap. The kiss became harder. Kakashi's hands and lips went everywhere, wanting to touch and taste every inch of her flesh, as if he were starved and insatiable, unable to feel fulfilled again. It was almost too good to be true. Sakura, his Sakura, and he was . . . He toppled them both over and rolled on top of her. She writhed underneath him, nails racking his skin. He hissed slightly at the sharp, subtle pain, kissing her hard again in retribution. His hand cupped her breast through the black lace and she moaned, twisting in his grasp to feel more. The beat of his heart pounded in his ear, throbbing through his body.

Kissing Sakura felt all too real to be anything but real, right? This had to be real, but even if it was just a dream, he wasn't about to let it go.

* * *

Sitting curled up on the chair in nothing but a hotel robe, she felt vulnerable and guilty. It was too late to stop now. As if she could stop; it was already over. The damage was done, and it left her feeling . . . well, maybe not totally horrible, but the sense of dread in her stomach would definitely keep her up all night. What had she done?

Kakashi had dropped exhausted on the bed moments ago, the stains of his release sprayed on the sheets. She never should have witnessed that effect of the genjutsu, but she had. What felt more horrible than the guilt was the tingle it caused to grow on her skin, creeping up her arms, over her chest, burrowing through her heart, and then worming its way down to her center until her whole body quivered in . . . She didn't even want to think about that! She should have looked away, blocked her ears, and just finished the jutsu without watching, but she couldn't. The sight of him, in the throes of passion, would forever be burned into her head now, wiping over all the other memories she had of men and their climaxes.

And the sickening part was that she'd liked what she saw.

Sakura whimpered, burying her face in her knees to muffle the sound. "I am not sexually attracted to Kakashi. I am not. I am not. I am . . . not."

Her inner self had long since fallen silent in attempting to convince her that she was attracted to him, still glued to watching the Copy Nin sleep in all his naked glory. And she didn't like looking at that? Her other half's loss, then.

She sighed. What the hell was she going to do now? How could she continue with her original plan if just the thought of it made her stomach turn in knots? He would kill her in the morning. She was certain of it. Or he wouldn't understand why, and hate her for it, which was an even worse thought. There had to be a glimmer of hope that it wouldn't end up like that. He could never hate her, not unless she turned on him and betrayed his trust, which this fiasco came dangerously close to doing. How was she ever going to be able to crawl into bed beside him and complete the illusion that what she had conjured in his head had actually occurred? Sakura nibbled nervously on her fingernails, muttering to herself, "I am so dead . . ."

Her inner voice stopped drooling for a moment to snicker about what a way to go it would be, killed while appearing in flagrante delicto next to that man. She groaned in misery. Obviously Inner Sakura was no longer on her side.

The kunoichi stood up suddenly and threw off the robe. She didn't have a choice, she had to finish it and convince him in the morning not to kill her. The only comfort she could give herself was that at least she would just be sleeping next to him and not having to pull him all over her to make it look authentic. She strode naked to the other side of the bed that was hers, tugging the covers back up and over top of him as she went. Sakura then slid underneath the sheets, keeping her back turned towards Kakashi. Lying there, she tried to block the memories of what had occurred from her mind and to relax enough to sleep. Tomorrow was the big night, the mission to screw over Hiro. She would need all the rest she could get.

And yet, for some reason, it felt to her as if she'd just screwed herself over.

Sakura turned onto her stomach to bury her face in the mattress until the cry in her throat had subsided. No good. It was no good. And yet, all of her misery stopped the moment she felt an arm slide over her waist. She rolled backwards to feel a chest pressed against her body and breath on her neck. The kunoichi froze as he curled up behind her. Her voice stuck in her throat, suffocating any loud, coherent noises she would have made at being spooned by a very naked ninja. Yet, aside from the skin on skin contact, nothing felt too . . . arousing. Kakashi's hand stayed stubbornly on the middle of her abdomen, his fingers slipped between hers. Slowly, the panic that had hit her went away, even if the blush didn't. The comfort he gave didn't quite seep in, though, but an even stronger feeling of guilt did. How could she do this to him, and for what? Was proving herself this worth it?

Sakura didn't know anymore, yet she didn't panic. Everything would be fine, and by morning, this would end as just another prank between them. They would go back to being just friends. That was the type of relationship she could deal with, with him. Sakura relaxed, breathing out that phrase. "Just friends."

* * *

Panic broke out despite how neither of the shinobi said one word. All it took to know that they were in fact panicked was one mutual look at each other. They may have felt the same thing, but it was each for very different reasons. As Ino tried to reconcile the dirty images and sounds of the Copy Nin and Sakura floating in her head, Genma tried to reconcile all the dirty thoughts he had about the blonde. He had shoved his hand in his pants pocket, gripping tightly on the inner lining and his underwear beneath in the hope that she wouldn't notice. Damn the both of them for being so damned dirty! If they would have just had sex and not just something completely one-sided, yet mutual, he wouldn't be in this mess! It would have been more like porn, which he could ignore, and less like . . . hell, he didn't even know what that was, but it made him incredibly hard thinking about it. And to think that Sakura had just used genjutsu on him. Genjutsu! Why didn't he ever think of that?

To make it even worse, Ino just sat there, still as a statue except for the flicker of thoughts past her blue eyes. Genma bit down hard on the toothpick in his mouth to keep from groaning in a mix of pain and pleasure. Sweet, innocent Ino had to be thinking about the same things he was, and it made his erection throb, begging to solve for her that pesky little problem of having a cherry to pop. He shouldn't have been thinking of that. Sex with the blonde should have been the last thing on his mind, but it wasn't. It was very much at the forefront of his thoughts, getting in the way of more important things, like what the hell had just happened between Sakura and Kakashi, and why. The longer both of them remained silent while looking at each other, the more he wanted to spring up from the bed and just kiss her on those pink lips. She probably tasted as tart as her tongue was, but the very idea made it all the more tempting to do.

"Fuck," Genma cursed, getting up from the bed all right, but moving in the opposite direction of his desires, away from her. "Why did they–?"

"I don't know," Ino whispered breathlessly, which sounded incredibly . . .

"Fuck."

"My sentiments exactly," she said, taking a deep breath. "I can't think of a reason why she would–?"

"No kidding," Genma muttered at he paced, the action and words distracting him from the other crises of the night. "Genjutsu isn't supposed to work on Kakashi that well."

"She must have used that drug they were talking about."

"But why?"

"I told you, I don't know! Stop asking me things I don't know!" Ino yelled, shooting up from her chair. Genma stopped in his tracks at the outburst from the woman, staring at her. Something quickly changed in her expression as soon as their eyes met, going from fury to . . . something else. He looked back at her puzzled, watching as the blush moved across her cheeks, her breath hitching up slightly, and her blue eyes lazily drifting over him before purposefully looking up, straight up, and avoiding him at all costs. What the hell was it now? What had gotten into her? It was as if . . . damn, was she just picturing him . . . naked? Having sex? The toothpick fell from his mouth as his jaw dropped. "Excuse me a moment," the blonde muttered as she quickly walked around the bed, even quicker past him, and directly into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

He stood there, still in shock that for even a second Ino would be interested in him in that way. Virginal little Ino, with the figure that looked anything but virginal, probably just had whatever shreds of innocence she had left ripped asunder, never to be seen again. The poor girl probably never felt much that desire before to react so embarrassed after seeing that, even if she was supposed to be twenty-two. And there he was, still thinking of screwing her against a wall. Genma groaned into his hands as he sunk down to sit on the end of the bed. After trying to prove to her for weeks that he wasn't the dog she thought he was, he still thought like the dog she accused him of being after all. Taking a deep breath, he tried to push all the thoughts of sex circling his head aside to concentrate on one thing, Ino. "Are you all right?" he called to her in the bathroom, knowing she was probably anything but.

After a moment, he heard her voice from the other side, though just barely. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little . . ."

Freaked out? "I don't know what's gotten into you, but it's ok," Genma said, surprising even himself with how sincere he sounded. "I'll take the floor tonight. You can have the bed to yourself."

"No, that isn't necessary. I'll be fine. I–"

"No, Ino. I really do feel like sleeping on the floor tonight." He tried not to deadpan, but couldn't help the stress in his voice. "We'll both have to get up early tomorrow for the fireworks, and maybe some answers, not to mention we're tailing them tomorrow night. You'll need all the sleep you can get."

It would be safer that way too.

"What about you?" Ino asked tentatively through the door.

"I'm not that tired. I'll probably stay up a bit longer watching them." Genma winced as he lied, knowing that not only would he be watching her instead, but that she was the real reason for his sleeplessness. He could hear her move away from the door and across the tile floor. "All right . . . if you say so."

He finally breathed easier. "Thank you, for understanding."

After that, she didn't say anything else from the other side of the bathroom door. Eventually Ino went to bed that night without needing the pillow barricade behind her. He sat on the floor for the longest time on top of a thin bedroll, trying not to fantasize about what he had been so tempted to do to her. Who was Tsunade kidding when she pitted them together for this mission? The hag-err, Hokage must have been trying to match up two couples and not just one. She had to be the one to blame, knowing the blue-eyed blonde would be the one he'd finally fall for, even if it would never work. That thought alone was his only solace that night, that whatever could perhaps develop between him and Ino would never work out.

Eventually, Genma did fall asleep, as unsettled as he was with that thought singing in his head. She would never love him so he could never love her. It would, of course, never work.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 10 of Dirty Deeds, Assassin's Tango. 


	10. Assassin's Tango

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 10 – Assassin's Tango

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content, as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

There were reasons why Kakashi always tried to limit the number of drinks he had, especially on missions, among other things. Whenever he did decide to break his own self-imposed rules, something always seemed to happen. When he was younger, more reckless, and lacking the seasoned nature he'd since cultivated so well, it wasn't unusual for him to wake up in places he couldn't quite recognize after a night of heavy drinking. While it was usually someone else's bed, one time he'd woken up tied to a chair with the woman he'd been smitten with the night before looming over him, and he decided then and there never to drink heavily or sleep with anonymous women while on a mission ever again. Since then, he had managed to avoid any similarly major fiascos, even if it had put a dent in his relationships with the opposite sex, not that he wanted real relationships anyway.It had sounded like such a good rule too, at the time. 

When the first signs of a hangover headache hit him that morning, abruptly waking him from what had been a peaceful sleep, he knew he'd broken that rule quite well. The light spilling into the room only made the knocking in his brain worse, unconsciously making him bury his face into the softest, darkest place he could find. Grumbling, he twisted, then sighed as he felt a curtain of wispy softness envelop his face, blocking out the light. Breathing it in, whatever it was, it smelled like Sakura's shampoo. He never could place what exactly she used; he could only deduce that whatever it was, it made him think of plum and cherry blossoms whenever she stepped out of the shower.

He must have been sniffing her pillow.

The thought made him grin in his sleep before the pounding headache wiped it away. Damnit, why couldn't he just be left alone to sleep? Sleep at that moment felt wonderful because he just knew that as soon as he woke up, something catastrophic would happen, given his lack of luck when alcohol was involved. Eventually, though, he had to face the inevitable. Kakashi sighed again, and moved his hand, the tips of his fingers touching what felt like skin.

Skin?

Instantly, his dark eye opened only to see peony pink, individual strands of it clouding his sight. Why was he looking at Sakura's hair? And why was his hand on naked skin? Naked skin? Was that what he felt pressed against his naked chest? Wait, why was he naked too?! Kakashi would have gasped if his throat, which was as dry as the Wind country's desert at the moment, hadn't just constricted. Instead, he sounded more like a dying bovine coming to grips with its fate in the last moments of life.

This couldn't be happening. He could not be naked, in bed, and curled around an equally nude Sakura so, so . . . easily! It went against the very foundations of their relationship for him to do such a thing this quickly! Besides, if they had slept together, he would remember it! He would not have been so stupid as to get drunk and sleep with her . . . would he?

Well, at the moment, lying there next to her in a very intimate position, he felt pretty stupid indeed.

Trying not to panic more than he already was, the ninja breathed deeply before commencing to search his memory for what the hell they had done the night before. There was dinner, staggering back to the room, passing out, then water, black lace, kissing, her skin, and–

Kakashi's dark eye widened at the flashes of memories that didn't quite seem to fit together into one coherent stream of thought. What he _could_ remember distinctly was kissing her, taking off her underwear, and, well, he certainly did remember getting off, on top of enjoying it.

He actually did have sex with Sakura . . .

That wasn't possible . . . was it?

She never would have allowed him one night with her. He never would have allowed it in the first place. The alcohol alone couldn't have messed him up that much. As much as the urge to outright panic over what he had done nagged at him, so did his paranoia. Something about waking up beside her didn't seem right. Why couldn't he remember more? He certainly felt like he had slept with someone, but . . . why? He couldn't remember one damned thing about what had triggered him to say yes, and it had to have been something very convincing, didn't it? He didn't even remember what she tasted like, or felt like, only that it had happened and he'd liked it. Something felt very wrong, and it made him want to panic all the more.

Ever since he'd woken up to find himself wrapped around her, Sakura hadn't moved a muscle. His hand had touched her stomach, but the only movement was her steady breathing. She must still be out, he thought, and for a sickening moment it occurred to him that he had probably tired her out. How could he be thinking like that?! Not that he wouldn't have tried to tire her out, but the fact that he was thinking he had was what stung the most. What the hell had come over him?! He knew that, despite his many internal protestations to the contrary, he did harboured a physical attraction to the pink-haired kunoichi, but never for a second did he entertain acting on those urges.

Sakura never seemed interested, and he always treated her like a well-intended man and friend should. Kakashi fought down a groan as the woman his arm hung over shifted slightly. He really should have moved that hand off of her skin, snuck out of bed for some clothes, and pretended nothing had happened between them, but he couldn't bring himself to even twitch out of fear of waking her. And Sakura felt so oddly, comfortably warm too, not clammy with sweat like one would expect.

Slowly, Kakashi rose up onto his elbow to look down at her. It was odd that she did look unchanged from the night before: no smell of sweat to her, no mussed hair, and no ruined make-up left on her face. There were no bite marks or scratches, bruises from kisses, nothing. She looked like she always did when she slept, just, well, naked under all those sheets. He sunk back down behind, mulling over that observation. She didn't look like she had slept with him last night at all.

Something was very odd.

If he could remember sleeping with her, why did it seem like it hadn't happened? He couldn't have dreamed it all, could he? He couldn't still be dreaming? Sakura murmured in her sleep, snuggling back against him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Despite himself, the movement of her back snuggled against his chest felt undeniably good. It was odd how well the young woman fit under him; not too tall or too short, just right enough for him to wrap himself over and get lost in. Kakashi's jaw clenched, pushing back the building desire he felt from having her in his arms. Friends. They were friends, and that thought was the only thing at the moment keeping him from throwing himself at her. Although, after what had happened last night, maybe that barrier between them was shattered once and for all.

He glanced down from Sakura's pink hair to see her bare neck and shoulder along with a hint of what laid underneath the covers. The urge to touch her grew stronger, along with other things he didn't want to think about. Damn, he didn't even have to see her fully naked to feel the stirrings of an erection, making it harder to think straight. The only good side to this nightmare was that he'd forgotten all about his headache. Sakura shifted again, and Kakashi stayed put, as rigid as a plank of wood.

There had to be a way he could tell if this was real or not. He couldn't just lie there all day, waiting for her to wake up. The mental pressure he felt threatening to make him completely lose it would get the better of him long before then. How could he tell if he really did sleep with her or not? Well, if he knew her as well as he thought he did, she wouldn't let him touch her unless it wasn't real, and it was still just a dream or nightmare. If it was real, then she would stop him before it went too far again. If it was the mistake he feared, she'd punt him through a wall.

That sounded about right in his head, right?

Kakashi pulled her body closer towards him, burying his face in her hair. It seemed like the correct theory. If something really had happened, then by the morning she would have changed her mind. Sakura always changed her mind on personal matters these days. She would write it off as just one night, nothing more. He probably wouldn't done any differently in her position. Idly, his hand touched her stomach, caressing soft skin. She murmured groggily, and he pressed on, nuzzling the back of her neck It felt so very wrong to do this to her, but it nonetheless sent a jolt of pleasure down his spine and directly to his loins. So very wrong indeed. It didn't feel like it was his hand that was touching her, but it was, making his pulse race. He pushed her pink hair out of the way to gently kiss her neck, and Sakura sighed, shivering slightly. She actually liked it. He must have been dreaming. Her body arched, and unconsciously he moved with her. She felt even warmer under his hands, which were stroking her abdomen as the kisses on her neck became harder, almost biting, as his mouth went lower.

He had to be dreaming for him to be this close to her.

Yet, as his hand went lower, until the tips of his fingers barely touched the soft hairs covering her mound, she grabbed his wrist, stopping him from going any further. "That's enough, Kakashi."

She was awake. She knew what he was doing to her and didn't want it. He wasn't dreaming . . .

Every carefully-built part of his self-imposed control went off with alarm in the ninja's momentarily fragile mind. He wasn't dreaming! He hadn't dreamed any of it! It had happened! She'd–! They'd–! He had–! And now–! He'd actually slept with Sakura! He'd–!

He was not an easy man to catch off guard. Countless other shinobi had tried and failed. Yet, Sakura had just done the impossible. For the first time in a very long time, Kakashi, the Great Copy Nin of Konoha, completely panicked.

With a startled shout, he threw himself away from her, rolling back across the bed and off the edge, onto the floor, with a heavy thud. After spluttering for a moment, he stayed there, in shock too deep to do much else. He had . . . he had . . . he had–! No matter how hard he tried to get that thought to sink it, he still couldn't force his mind to accept it, not willingly at least. He'd slept with Sakura . . .

It didn't make sense, but it had happened!

Slowly, the kunoichi shifted her legs off the bed and sat up, keeping her back to what was no doubt a very troubled ninja at that moment. She didn't need to see the results of her handiwork to know what she'd done since she could hear him practically hyperventilating. After a minute or two, the bed shifted behind her, which was no doubt Kakashi picking himself up from the floor. With a glance over her shoulder, she met his very wide-eyed gaze as he knelt on the bed with the covers pulled tightly over his hips. The guilt sunk in deeper.

It had worked. The look on his face was enough for her to know that he had bought it all. For once, she had gotten the better of him and proved just how capable she was, and yet, the taste of victory seemed more sour than sweet.

She quickly looked away, knowing exactly what he was about to ask her. "Nothing happened."

Kakashi continued to gawk at her, his voice as far gone as logical thought in that moment. His mouth moved but nothing came out, at least not right away. Eventually his throat cooperated enough to blurt out, "You're just saying that because you don't want to remember something happened."

Sakura sighed, trying not to cringe. "No, nothing happened between us. It was just something I tried to see if it would work, and it worked."

He continued to stare at her, except this time his jaw slowly clamped shut before he asked tensely, "What?"

"What happened was all in your head."

"That's impossible, I remember–"

"It was all in your head! I tricked you! Got it?! Be angry with me, because I'm angry at me!" Sakura shouted at him in her full fury, turned on the bed towards him. Kakashi blinked, ignoring for a moment that his partner was ragingly pissed off to look downwards at her naked body. Slowly, the kunoichi looked down too, quickly turning bright red and scrambling to cover herself with her limbs. "Stop looking at me like that!"

He gripped the bed sheets tighter, trying to focus on what the hell was going on instead of the sight before him. Fighting down a groan, he squinted and rubbed his forehead in an effort to make the image of a nude Sakura leave his mind, along with the returning headache. Yet, no matter how much he kept telling himself he'd seen it all before, it didn't make one bit of difference to his baser urges. She wanted him to be angry . . . but what was he supposed to be angry about?

Slowly, as she calmed down, the pink-haired young woman turned until her back faced him once again, and she curled up to hug her knees. Somehow, Kakashi managed to get his thought processes back in some semblance of order as he stared at the silhouette of her turned-away form. "Last night . . . it didn't happen, then?"

"No, it didn't."

"But then why do I remember so–" He stopped short, reminding himself that in fact he didn't remember nearly as clearly as he thought he did. "Then why do I think something did happen?"

Sakura winced, burying her face in her knees. "Genjutsu."

"Genjutsu? That isn't possible, unless . . . " The ninja stopped short again, remembering that it was thoroughly possible. He groaned, slapping a hand over his face. "You drugged me."

She winced again. "But now we know it works?"

Her tone of voice didn't sound so sure of that, half-nervous and half making light of the situation.

Kakashi sat there on his heels, letting the revelations sink in. This time, his troubled mind swallowed the whole thing much more easily. She drugged him and used genjutsu to make him believe they'd slept together . . . only they hadn't. That he could deal with more so than if they'd actually had slept together in more than their usual platonic way. Although, at the same time as the Copy Nin felt much relief, a profound sense of disappointment started to overtake him. Why would he be disappointed? It slowly dawned on him that the disappointment wasn't with Sakura for successfully tricking him, or with himself for being tricked, but because none of what he had imagined had happened. Slowly, it occurred to him too that he had actually wanted to have sex with Sakura, but in the end, it hadn't happened at all. He had actually wanted to sleep with her . .

He went dead silent, brewing on that numbing realization.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Sakura waited for the axe to fall, for him to say something, anything as long as it validated how she felt about herself. He had to have hated her, right? Why wasn't he angry? If Kakashi was disappointed with her actions, that would be even worse than his resentment, wouldn't it? She didn't want to look, but couldn't help it, peering over her shoulder at him. Her partner just sat there, staring at nothing but the sheets between them, and an odd prickling feeling seized her heart, as if it were being stabbed by a thousand senbon. He was disappointed in her. Sakura looked away again and fought down the urge to cry, whispering instead, "I'm so sorry, Kakashi . . ."

The sound of his name snapped the shinobi out of his trance enough to hear her apology, though just barely. "Don't be sorry," he muttered, not sounding as bitter as he felt. "Now we know it works."

". . . Don't you want to know why I–?"

"No, I don't," Kakashi said quickly, balling up the sheets. "At least not now."

"Are you angry with me?"

He felt one flash of hot anger at the suggestion that he should be, but then it went away. "No, I'm not angry with you."

"So you don't hate me?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"Why would I ever hate you?"

She thought about that for a moment, and then sighed. "Because what I did wasn't something a friend would do to another friend. I'm so sorry, and–"

"But it's something a shinobi would do. I did doubt you before, but you showed me you could do it, even if was a little underhanded . . ." Kakashi justified for the both of them. "On the bright side, now I don't have to worry about your performance tonight anymore."

The stabbing in Sakura's heart hurt her again as she winced. "Is that all you care about? The mission?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them as he went silent again. "Kakashi, I didn't mean that–!"

"I know what you meant."

"But–!"

"Stop. Now," he ordered, and her mouth clamped shut. "What happened, happened."

And what didn't happen, didn't happen, he thought to himself before continuing. "We need to move on. We're both strong enough to not let this get to us, and we have something more important to get ready for."

"Yes," Sakura said numbly, as the pain wouldn't go away. She just had to know, though, even if it would hurt her even more. "But you are disappointed in me," the kunoichi whispered, "aren't you?"

"No, I'm not disappointed in you," Kakashi said, speaking only a half-truth of how he really did feel. "And before you ask, I still trust you too."

She blinked, looking over her shoulder at him. "How? I lied to you, manipulated you, deceived you, drugged you, and made you think something happened that was apparently pretty disturbing to you given how you reacted. _I_ don't even trust me. How can you–?"

His frown deepened. If only she knew the truth. The disappointment finally let go as he exhaled. "Because you told me. You could have pretended something had happened, but you admitted to what you did. And you obviously feel more remorse about it than you should. You're still you, Sakura."

"But . . . I used you."

"That isn't something I'm entirely unfamiliar with, you know," the ninja grumbled, his mismatched eyes shifting sideways. "Besides, I already knew you'd tricked me before you woke up . . ."

The pink-haired young woman blinked at him yet again in disbelief. Her jade eyes then narrowed on him as she turned around, careful this time to make sure she covered herself. "You're lying."

"I'm deeply offended, Sakura-chan. To think I would lie to you over something this serious," Kakashi said, sounding only lightly offended as she still scowled at him. "We're both admitting to deceiving one another, so I might as well fess up as well, yet you wound me deeper by underestimating my perception, intelligence, and acting skills."

Her pain quickly turned to anger. "I am not! You're lying! Why would I–?!"

"Because you still want to think you won, even if it makes you feel guilty."

"How can you–? Argh!" she spluttered at him, staring. "How could you possibly have known?!"

"I knew you had tricked me because you didn't look like you'd had sex."

Her eyes shot open, wide in surprise. "What?"

"Your hair is too neat. Your skin is too clean and too unblemished. You also washed off your make-up last night. That's how I knew."

Sakura's jaw dropped, then snapped shut again as she muttered a soft curse. "Damnit."

"Now we're even. It was still good work, though. A lesser man would have bought it," he said, his eyes creased happily.

With a huff, the kunoichi sprung up from the bed, walking towards the bathroom with anger bristling in every step. "I still don't believe you. You probably only realized it after I admitted to tricking you. You only said it to cover your ass as well as mine."

"Perhaps, but my ass is covered at the moment, and yours isn't," Kakashi pointed out as she stood naked in the doorway, furiously trying to cover herself with nothing but a hand. His eyes lingered on the sight, taking it in while gripping the sheets tangled around him tightly. If Sakura noticed the subtle rise cleverly disguised by the wadded up fabric resting right between his legs, she never let on. Nothing in the way she scowled at him said she knew either, which made him breathe all the easier . . . except that she was still angry.

"Why do you do this? I know you know that I know you're lying your ass off, but you're still willing to pretend to have the upper hand over me to save face. You pretend that nothing's happened and everything is the same when–," she argued before cutting herself off with a sigh. "Do you want to let it go that badly?"

He didn't look at her, slouched over as he thought over her question before answering. "Don't you?"

The kunoichi sighed again. "Fine then. This morning never happened. It doesn't change anything, and we don't bring it up again, at least not until this mission is over."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Understood . . . We're still friends."

Sakura nodded. "Still friends . . ."

"You have shopping to do this afternoon," he said in a flat, business-like tone, devoid of its usual levity.

"And you have plenty of things to arrange. Your list of things to do is even longer than mine."

"Everything will be done by dinner. I'll take care of the last item before you start to get ready."

"You'll be here by then? Then we can just get started?"

"Yes, and remember?"

"Don't screw up. We don't have a second chance. I got it the first hundred or so times, Kakashi."

"That's my girl," he chirped with a fake grin and eye crease.

"I won't let you down," Sakura said with a slight smile that she couldn't keep from seeming a bit forced as well. A moment later, she disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door. It wasn't until the silver-haired man heard the shower start to run that he let out the breath he had been holding. She would be in there a long time, which left him with nothing but his thoughts, among other things.

Groaning groggily, Kakashi rubbed his face, trying to clear his head enough to get up from the bed. Ok, so, maybe he had lied for her benefit, but at least it was the truth . . . ok, half-truth. Anything to keep the status quo between them worked for him He had noticed the small things wrong about her that morning, anyway . . . just hadn't thought of it as meaning anything at the time. But then again, he had purposefully been ignoring the warning signs too, wanting to believe that he had slept with her, that his perception had been wrong. It felt horrible admitting that he was right about wanting to be wrong, but not as horrible as admitting that he wanted her.

The only saving grace in lying to her about her victory was that she still didn't know a thing. How glad he was that she could be more oblivious than Naruto sometimes. Still just friends; that had been what they'd agreed to, yet the word felt more and more like a noose to him. That morning he'd finally crossed a line, mentally at least. He really did want to be more than just friends with Sakura in the physical sense.

Kakashi groaned again, knocking his palm into his forehead to make it all go away. If admiring Sakura from afar on top of admitting that he did indeed care for her more than a friend should were unforgivable crimes, the realization that he wanted her was damning. How could he be thinking of her like this?! She was supposed be his partner, nothing more! He should not have even been entertaining such thoughts! This whole entire mission was messing with his head! Tsunade had to be messing with him, with her superstitions and picking this particular mission just for them!

But then again, he really only had himself to blame for things going the way they were. Maybe if he put his foot down, stopped deluding himself that it was possible, then maybe it would all just stop, and then they could go back to being just friends. He was one of the strongest-willed shinobi in the Leaf, and it was like he . . . no, he didn't love her. He did not love Sakura, not in the happily-ever-after, come-what-may sort of sense. He couldn't. All he felt was lust. Lust he could handle, contained and safe, never to be acted upon. Lust, comparatively, was easier to deal with for him than love, and being friends was even easier to deal with than lust. Once the mission was over, they would be fine. The status quo wouldn't change. Their relationship wouldn't change.

But then again, a line once crossed . . .

He didn't want to think about it anymore; no lines, no wanting, no Sakura. Kakashi exhaled slowly, letting all of his thoughts disappear. He sat there, concentrating on his breathing in near meditation. The mission was more important. After it was all over, maybe then he could indulge in those thoughts at least once in a while. So what if he was deep in denial? Denial was preferable to ruining a perfectly good relationship, the only one he had with a member of the opposite sex. Besides . . . it was what she wanted, too.

Stiffly, he got up from the bed, keeping the sheet wrapped over him and held tightly as he trudged through the living room to the kitchen.

Within moments, he had a pot of coffee started for them both while he stared at two objects sitting on the counter before him. Both had been pulled from a nearby brown bag that sat in the corner, full of other things he didn't want to think about. The ninja looked at both items wearily, one of them being a tall plastic squeeze bottle and the other a box filled with small colorful and carefully wrapped packets. He looked past them out into the living room and, beyond that, their shared bedroom. The shower water was still running, and it didn't sound like it would stop any time soon. Well, it had to be done eventually, Kakashi reasoned with himself, for the mission of course. Not because he actually wanted to indulge his long-buried fantasies of a certain pink-haired vixen or anything. It simply had to be done, and it was just fortunate that Sakura had provided the kick to his, um, imagination that he needed.

Glancing back at the items on the counter, he grabbed the bottle and one of the foil packets before throwing the box back into the bag as if it were scalding hot. He could be quick, and Sakura would never know.

The things he put himself through for the sake of a mission.

* * *

Genma shut off the speaker with a growl, ignoring Ino as she giggled to herself, unable to contain her laughter at him with melon bread in her mouth. Scowling, he got up from the chair at the table to pace the floor, the binoculars shoved in his back pants pocket. He hadn't bothered getting more dressed than that while she sat across from him, sprawled comfortably over the chair. She hadn't bothered to change out of her lavender pajamas for the morning show either. He snorted, stopping his pacing for a moment. Some show it was; first comedy, then drama, and then . . . nothing. Nothing! It was enough to make him want to tear his hair out! And after the night before, he had been all geared up for porn too! 

He growled more, pacing again as the kunoichi couldn't suppress her laughter. "This isn't funny, Ino! What is wrong with that man?! He was all over her one moment, then treating her like the plague the next, and now that?! I can understand needing physical evidence for their little deception, but Sakura would be better help for that than his hand! What is he thinking?!"

"Denial, that's what he's thinking," the blonde observed, coming down from her high. "It's why he let Sakura off the hook so easily. If you hadn't noticed by now, Kakashi has been trying to maintain their relationship as just friends. Just everything seems to be conspiring against him . . ."

"Including us, but we haven't done anything to them yet."

"Why bother? The way things are going, anything remotely provocative might finally push him over the edge before the end of the night."

Genma snorted, not believing her at all. Ino's blue eyes rolled. "Oh come on. You can't tell me you didn't practically hear his armor cracking wide open."

The shinobi stopped pacing, but still scowled at her. "Your friend isn't much better, except she's oblivious on top of being in denial. Hell, I don't even think she's interested in old one-eye . . ."

"She is. She just doesn't know it yet."

He had to admit the blonde did have a point. On top of being deep in denial, his friend seemed just as close to having a breakdown. Eventually something would have to give, but for the sake of their mission, it had to be Kakashi's libido or nothing else. What could they do to ensure that his libido in particular was one-eye's weakness? After Ino fell silent, Genma started pacing again, even if it didn't help him come up with anything remotely brilliant admist all that walking. It wasn't until the kunoichi got up and kicked him in the shin while on her way towards their packs that he finally stopped. He yelped in pain, hopping on one foot while rubbing his leg. "Are you crazy? What the hell was that for?"

"Keep pacing and you'll drive me crazy, you loon! Pacing doesn't increase your brain power!" Ino snapped at him, furiously rifling through her bag.

He sneered, sitting down on the bed to nurse his shin. "And kicking me isn't going to make me like you any more than I already do."

She blinked at him, not quite sure his words made sense in her head. She repeated it to herself. It didn't make sense at all, but then, when was Genma known for his logic. Sighing, she grabbed one of his shirts and flung it at his head. The clothing hit him with an oomph, and peeling the shirt away from his face, he grumbled. "Stake out tonight, then. You heard their plan."

"I did. We're going to need new clothes."

"What? Didn't pack anything remotely trashy?"

Ino's eyes rolled as she grabbed her clothes for the day. "No, I left all the mesh netting and spandex at home."

Genma chuckled at the mental image, shucking the shirt on. "Mesh netting and spandex, eh? I just might pay to see that."

"You'd have to pay to see that."

"Yeah, it's not like you give it out for free." He laughed for a moment, until it occurred to him what he'd actually said. "Shit, I didn't mean it like that."

Yet, the narrowing of Ino's aqua eyes into a furious stare told Genma that his unintended meaning was exactly the one she had interpreted his words as. Genma winced, and a moment later the blonde had turned to stomp off into the bathroom. "I know what you meant all right."

He bounded off the bed after her. "But I didn't mean it like–"

She whipped around to face him, long pale hair flying into his face while forcing him to skid to a halt or else crash into her. His heart jumped into his throat; he couldn't remember her daring to get this close to him before. As if that wasn't enough, she was pissed, viciously pissed. Yet unlike previous times he'd faced down angry women, it didn't feel all that bad to be the target of her anger. "I know, Genma, ok?" she hissed at him, her aqua eyes livid. "I get it finally. I'm not like every other woman you've met because I'm not some cheap floozy who'll just drop her panties for you."

"I never implied you were . . ." he said in a small voice before she continued.

"But you don't have to make fun of my lack of–!"

"I didn't mean it–"

"Argh! I'm not the prude you take me for, you big idiot! But I'm not loose either! You can at least treat me like I'm normal!" Ino yelled, batting at him with her clothes. "Why can't you be just the nice guy when I know you are one and not the creep you want to be?!"

Despite having fabric whipped at him, Genma grinned while hunched over to block her shots. She thought he was nice? When did that happen? He chuckled, which only seemed to infuriate her more. The next time she tried to fling her clothes at him, he snagged it on instinct and yanked hard. Ino flew towards him with a squawk, falling into his arms as he grabbed her. Time seemed to freeze for the both of them.

For one heart-arresting moment, there she was, practically all over Shiranui Genma, Konoha's self-reputed biggest flirt, as he chuckled at her. Ino's toes curled as she stood on the points to keep herself somewhat balanced while leaning on him much too much. The chuckling stopped as she felt him breathe onto her neck and ear. Despite being a strong kunoichi, she stood there helpless, unwilling to push herself away from him as her insides turned into knotted, twisted coils. What was wrong with her?! This was friggin' Genma! He was just about to put the moves on her! Any moment now! It was how he operated, lulling women into a false sense of security! And yet . . . she did kind of like the sense of security the brown-haired shinobi was giving off . . .

"But I am a nice guy. You still don't know me well enough," he whispered into her ear, making her want to gasp. Her knees threatened to give way as he slowly leaned in closer. He was going to kiss her . . . He was going to kiss her!

She finally managed to push away, backing up right into the door frame. What the hell was wrong with her?! What the hell was wrong with him for coming on to her?! And yet, having asked herself that question, Ino decided she didn't really need to know the answer. Retreating into the bathroom, she slammed the door shut in his face and threw herself against it. Her heart leapt into her throat, making it hard to breathe, let alone calm herself down. What was happening to her? Her heart never pounded this wildly around Shikamaru! Then again, he never got that close to kissing her either! Damn him! Damn him, damn him, damn him! This was all Genma's fault! Why did he have to be so . . . cute?

Ino whimpered, biting her lip. Genma was cute, in a trashy, dirty way that all her instincts told her to avoid at all costs; he was naughty but tasty, like chocolates before dinner. He wasn't anything like Shikamaru either, which made it all the more frustrating for her. He wasn't smart, nagging barely worked on him in a fight, he didn't need mothering, and he . . . he didn't need her.

She slumped slightly against the door. As unlikely of a prospect as he was, the reality of it was that the brown-haired shinobi on the other side of the door didn't need her like Shikamaru did, if that man ever realized it. The only thing that would come out of a relationship between them would be bitterness and sarcasm until he tired of her too. That was his reputation, wasn't it? He never stuck to one thing or one woman, or at least that was what everyone said about him. He even admitted the night they'd staked out the party that he wouldn't be willing to risk everything for love. It was fair to say he didn't need nor want that from any woman either, which left just sex. What kind of relationship would that be, anyway?

She heard his bare feet shuffling outside the bathroom door, and saw the shadow they cast on the floor through the crack beneath the door. "It was just a joke, Ino . . . I wasn't really going to."

A shiver ran through her and she knew he was lying. He would have kissed her if he could have. She smirked, grumbling to herself. "Just keep telling yourself that."

"Ino?" he asked, knocking on the door.

"I'm fine," the blonde muttered, lying in return as she started to get undressed. "You just scared me, that's all. If that's what you think is a joke, then you succeeded at being absolutely hilarious."

"But, I didn't mean–!"

"Just shut up and let me finish getting ready, Genma. I'm not in the mood for playing around anymore." That was the truth all right from her lips. At the moment, she needed to focus on something that wasn't, well, him.

"Grouchy."

"Idiot . . . I'll be out in five minutes."

"I'll clean up then . . . You're on your own for shopping!"

"Well don't expect any fashion advice from me, either!" Ino shouted back at him through the door. Moments later, she heard him shuffle off, the shadow gone. She exhaled, breathing easier. Everything felt back to normal between them, like he hadn't almost kissed her, and like she hadn't almost thought of liking being kissed by him. She sat on the edge of the bathroom tub, slowly pulling down her red sweater to wear that day. "Fine . . ." the blonde repeated to herself before pulling her long hair out of the high neck. "Everything's fine . . ."

And she was sure that with enough convincing, everything would indeed be just fine.

* * *

Night fell over Snowfall along with a fresh dusting of light snow. The sky was darker than normal thanks to the low-hanging moon, but the city remained bright with glowing street lights. But while one section of the city bustled with nightlife, an empty street with row upon row of rich houses was peacefully silent. Inside one lavish dwelling in particular at the top of a rolling hill, an older man of nearly fifty years busied himself in a corner office, surrounded by an embankment of windows that over looked the houses of his neighbors below. 

Nakamura Nobu looked up from the paperwork and frowned at the serene stillness of the night, sure that the calm had been shattered by something. He was just being paranoid, that was it. After this many years, he had no more reason to be afraid. No one in the city could possibly still suspect him of–

As soon as the memory sprung up in his mind, he beat it back down into the depths of his consciousness, never to be remembered. He relaxed in the leather armchair, pulling his expensive silk robe closer around him. No one could possibly remember . . .

Years of worry had carved a path in Nobu's brow and around his mouth, leaving him with a stern, eternally downtrodden appearance. Even if he looked more than a few years past his prime, neither his beautiful, nubile mistress nor his absent, equally-adulterous wife ever complained. Then again, he learned long ago that some women were more concerned with money than they were with other benefits a man could bring to a relationship, and his company hoarded a shitload of it. The numbers in those ledgers were so many that no one bothered to count them anymore. Manipulating those numbers to be even bigger numbers was what the Redwright Company paid him for after all. Surely they wouldn't miss a wayward number or two in an effort to keep his mistress in furs for the city's long winters. But then again, a little money was nothing in comparison to his other crimes . . .

He shivered, sure that the thought had brought with it a sudden chill to his old bones. Looking over to the windows, Nobu noticed that it wasn't his conscience making him cold but a draft from the unlocked pane. He stood up and shuffled over to it in his velvet slippers, closing the latch with a hard tug. "Stupid maid . . . Even she's trying to kill me for my money."

Thinking nothing more of it, he slowly turned towards the desk and froze. Sitting in his chair was a masked figure in black, entirely indistinguishable from the darkness except for the silvery hair sprouting up into the air. Nobu stood absolutely still, waiting for the flash of a weapon from the intruder. This was it, the moment his paranoia had been warning him about. It was him, the shinobi to kill him had finally come . . . right? "Nakamura-san," the man said cordially, "good to see you again. It has been too long."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Hatake-san . . . so it is you after all? My dear Takara mentioned your name before. I didn't want to believe it was possible, but . . . you've finally come to finish your job, haven't you?"

Kakashi gave the frightened man a blank look. "You haven't told her about me, have you? Or about what you nearly did?"

Nobu sneered. "That gossiping whore? I wouldn't even trust her with my own mother's corpse, rest her dead soul. If it made her richer, she would use that information to turn me in . . . Doesn't mean I can't enjoy her, though."

The ninja stood up from the chair, circling round the desk. "Have a seat, Nakamura-san."

The old man started. "Aren't you going to–?"

"If I was going to kill you . . . you would have been dead long ago."

The softly spoken words propelled Nobu's feet across the plush carpet to the armchair. He slowly sunk down into the leather, looking up at Kakashi as he stood across the desk facing towards him. "If you're not here to kill me for nearly betraying this city's secrets to the daimyo of Water . . . then why are you here?"

"Because your mistress's activities interest me . . ."

Slowly, a licentious look crept over the man's face. "I didn't know women interested you that much. I could arrange a meeting to–"

Kakashi glared at the old pervert. "Not that kind of interested. I need you to do something for me."

"What would that be?"

"I need you to persuade her that it is in her best interest to remain in your bed tonight, even if she's made arrangements with someone else."

Nobu stared at him in disbelief. "I don't see anything wrong in letting my Takara go to a theater with her friends."

"That's because she's going to a club instead . . ." Kakashi corrected as he pulled a small envelope from inside his coat pocket, dumping the photos contained within onto the desk, ". . . to see Minagawa Hiro."

He grabbed one of the black and white pictures of two bodies entwined, and then crumpled it in his fist. "Jun-san's husband?! That's who she's seeing now?! She's the one responsible for that convoluted drama?!" Nobu shot up from the desk, throwing the ruined picture across the room. "As if Shinjiro wasn't enough for her appetite! Even _she_ wishes to replace me! She's no better than my wife!"

The shinobi watched idly as the man raged, scattering the pictures on the desk in a fit before slowly sitting down again. Sighing, he flung himself back in the chair as if Kakashi wasn't there at all, then slowly looked up at him as if suddenly remembering his presence. "Is this all you wanted from me? For me to keep her at home for one night?" he asked. "Sounds a bit unfair of an exchange."

"You should know by now that your mistress isn't what she seems. We've been hired because of a suspicion that she's behind the shake-up at Minagawa Eastern Trading. You of all people can understand the ramifications if there is a change in Snowfall's power structure. We're attempting to prevent any such changes."

Nobu nodded. "Of course. If one of us goes under, all of us could."

"Which you know well from attempting it yourself in the past . . ."

"But what is in the past stays in the past, Hatake-san," he growled at the shinobi. "You wouldn't dare."

Kakashi's eye creased as he grinned under his mask. "You know I would dare if it was necessary, but it isn't. Keep her in tonight, and then let her go in the morning. Whatever else you wish to do to her is up to your discretion, of course."

The man sunk into the chair, staring at the photos. "What has she been up to? I know she's been fucking around on me, not that I mind as long as she keeps fucking me, but . . ."

"She did hire men to attempt to kill my partner."

"Haruno . . . Takara's mentioned her. She must be something else to make that woman hate her so much."

"It is a long story which I do not have time to get into."

"I knew she was clever too, you know," Nobu said with a slight grin, tracing around the white outline of a female silhouette in the picture. "It's the hair and boobs. Makes men assume she isn't clever. It's what's so attractive in women like her, more than the looks. Wives don't understand that. They get so . . . dull."

Kakashi frowned, moving away from the desk back and towards the window. "No wife is ever dull, just put upon too much by men they convince themselves they love. Jun-san still loves her husband, even if he's shacked up with your mistress, and soon enough he will come to realize that too, hopefully before it is too late. You, too, loved your wife once, Nakamura-san, and then you cheated on her first. I thought I should mention this in case you'd forgotten."

"That woman . . . I can't believe I almost . . . and for her, too. Did you really have to kill her?"

"I knew that if she were killed, then you never would have completed the deal. I knew that. She was a kunoichi of the Mist. All she was doing was her job, nothing more, and I was doing mine."

"Takara, could she be . . .?"

"No, she is not . . . but that doesn't make her any more innocent, or any less dangerous," Kakashi said before opening the window. Moments later he jumped out and disappeared. Nobu didn't bother to close it just yet, letting the freezing air drift into the room. Slowly, he exhaled, then stood up to lock the window again. He then checked the locks on the other windows as well before turning towards the door that led into the rest of the house and to wherever Takara was. Turning back towards the desk, he picked up one of the fallen photographs and sneered in disgust.

That woman . . . that infuriating, beautiful woman, to think Takara was just as conniving as her replacement for his past lover, and as much of a home-wrecker. He thought the blonde was different for being so clever and convincing despite her hair color. He never should have given her so much free reign. It was her fault his past mistake had come back to haunt him. Troublesome women, they weren't worth the effort anymore. Perhaps Kakashi was right. He should not have ever doubted his once loving wife.

But to his growing regret, he had doubted her, and then let her go into the arms of a man who could love her more. Nobu frowned, trudging through the door with a grumble. "Women . . ."

* * *

Kakashi stepped down from the window ledge and back into the bedroom, closing the glass behind him. His last task was complete, and he was ready for the night's activities to commence. As soon as Sakura was ready, which would be soon, they could move out. Scanning the bedroom, he saw the questionable-looking bags he'd seen her bring back earlier from her shopping upended over the bed, tags, receipts, and rejected garments littered among the remains. He tried not to sigh or think of any antiquated sayings about women and shopping, even if the temptation was there. "She goes out for one outfit, and . . ." the ninja grumbled as he shook his head. 

At least the money spent was Jun's and not from their paycheck.

Glancing over towards his pack, he also noticed that she had been rifling through it while he was gone. What could she possibly want with his clothes? Just as he started to rearrange his packed clothes, he heard the stomping of boots behind the bathroom door and looked up. "Kakashi, is that you?" Sakura asked through the door. "How did it go?"

"As expected, no problems from Takara tonight," he answered before clipping the bag back shut. "Why did you go through my things?"

"Um . . . give me a minute and I'll show you."

Kakashi frowned, not liking the sound of that at all. "Sakura . . . what did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear, just . . . well, it probably didn't fit you anymore, anyway!"

"Sakura . . ."

"One moment! Don't disturb me with wet mascara on my eyes!" she shouted as he heard the boots stomping again. "There! I'm coming out . . ."

Slowly, the bathroom door creaked open as she stepped into the room. Kakashi's dark eye widened, his pale eyebrow rising up as he took her in. "You look . . ."

Her hips cocked to the side as his eye widened slightly more. "Like neither a girl nor a guy, right?"

"Is that the–?"

"Henge and the Sexy no jutsu both."

"Both?" he asked in disbelief. Slowly, Sakura nodded as he blinked. "Take the second off for a moment."

". . . Ok, and?"

"Is it off?" Kakashi asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Um, yeah?"

He stared at her, still somewhat in shock at the transformed figure of Sakura. He honestly couldn't tell the difference, unable to tell which gender she–, err, he–, err, whichever sex she really was at the moment, really was. The only thing he could tell was that she was attractive and feminine, and only feminine because in his mind's eye he wanted her to be. If she was female then it would be a lot easier to accept the twinge of want coursing through him without feeling queasy as well. Really, with what she was dressed in, her gender could be interpreted either way. A slightly stupid grin crossed his face under the mask.

This would work out better than he'd thought.

Sakura turned around as he kept staring, spinning on the thick heels of the tall black boots. The dark suede ran up almost her entire leg, stopping around mid-thigh and laced down her outer legs through silvery hooks. Above them were about the shortest pair of shorts he'd ever seen on her, and close to being the tightest, too, made of synthetic, rubberized fake leather instead of spandex. She also wore a sleeveless black shirt with a high, draped neck that was too skin-tight to leave anything to the imagination, if she had anything there to look at. Somehow, her breasts were magically flat, which he suspected was thanks to a roll of cotton bandages. The henge only added to the differences as her pink hair had been turned black as well, hanging straight down her back in a long ponytail. Her green eyes were also now a deep blue, much like the night sky.

The look was dramatically different from the woman he knew, despite recognizing the parts of her that were still familiarly Sakura, like the old, small kunai scar on the inside of her left forearm. Hiro wouldn't know the difference, though, even if Kakashi did. What was as important as being gender ambiguous was that she still looked . . . well, that speck of repressed desire he'd been trying to snuff out since the morning flared back to life just by looking at her. He wasn't exactly admiring just her beauty this time either, he thought, as that worn-out excuse for staring filtered through his mind. She looked dressed to kill in the metaphorical sense, but also cheaper than the seductress act from last night, like the perfect little club hook-up . . . and possible transvestite.

All in all, he should have been damned proud, and yet Kakashi's amused grin dropped into a frown that tugged at the edges of his mask. "That's one of my old shirts, isn't it?"

Sakura laughed nervously. "Yeah, but surprisingly, it fits with just a little trimming and tailoring."

His eye fell to the new hem on the shirt, still raw from being snipped, revealing a scant amount of her stomach that was tantalizingly bare. He stopped staring and turned away, walking towards the door. Scooping up a dark, crushed velvet longcoat from the bed, the kunoichi followed him, her footsteps noticeably louder than his with a heavy clop. "Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked, throwing the coat on quickly as he got to the door leading out of their suite.

"About you stealing and altering my shirt? . . . Not really. You're right. It was probably getting too small for me anyway."

"No, I meant about how I look. Do you think Hiro will buy it? It's the one thing we really haven't tested out. I mean, he seems to like blondes, and brunettes, not–"

"He'll buy it," Kakashi muttered quickly, shoving his hands into his dark pants. "He'd be a fool not to."

Of course he'd be a fool not to. If her little outfit had Kakashi beside himself, which he was each time he glanced back at her, Hiro was virtually done for.

"Or he'd be a genius to suspect anything," Sakura said in return, slowing down behind him. "So . . . you like it then?"

Actually, he liked her with the signature pink hair more, but he wasn't about to say that out loud. The outfit on the other hand . . .

He glanced back at her yet again to watch as she licked her sugary pink painted lips, and quickly looked away again. "What I think is irrelevant. Focus on what's important, which is convincing Hiro to take you home, and when you get there–"

"Open bottles, pour drinks, wait for an opportunity to drug him, then wait for him to pass out, let you in, and then we start," she repeated, exhaling. "I got it . . . Are you sure if she cancels, he'll still be there?"

Kakashi nodded, stopping at the elevator. "He'll be there."

"How do you know that? Maybe if–"

"Stop worrying, Sakura. He has an appointment with a bottle. I know the type. He'll be there, just sadder than usual without Takara there to make him forget."

The bell rung and the elevator doors slid open. They both stepped inside the empty lift. "Of course," Sakura said, nodding in agreement. "After the week of hell we put him through . . ."

"Yeah . . . he'll be all too willing to forget about five women slapping him in one day."

* * *

Nobu watched as the blonde paced in the marble foyer, holding the phone to her ear. "What do you mean you couldn't find her, you little shit?! What do you think I'm paying you for?!" 

Something apparently had not gone right from the way Takara was yelling, yet he wasn't too focused on what she had said, or why she went quiet. Instead, he concentrated on the rapping of her golden high heels on the expensive stone and the way her black and grey fur coat flared open to reveal the skimpy red dress she wore underneath. "You gave me this excuse the other day, you asshole!" she hissed into the phone, "If this is the best you can do . . . Fine then, I will find someone else! You can kiss your paychecks good–! Fine! Never call me again!"

She abruptly slammed the phone shut, bristling with anger as she turned around to see him standing on the bottom half of the staircase. Her warm brown eyes widened. "Nobu? What are you doing here? I thought–!"

"I decided to take a break from paperwork to see you before you left. What was the call about?"

Surprise flashed across her face before she slid the phone carefully back into the purse dangling over her shoulder. "You heard that?"

"I am not deaf yet, my dear treasure."

Takara glanced to the side, pouting as she walked closer towards him. Her fingers touched the edges of his silk robe, toying with it. "Just a few men I hired to find Minagawa's missing cat. The poor woman lost her pussy a week or two ago, so, I felt bad and wanted to help, but they couldn't find her pet, so . . . I fired them."

For a moment, Nobu didn't look convinced at all, until he nodded in approval, reaching out to move a wayward lock of golden hair away from her eyes. "That's very charitable of you, treasure."

He smiled at her despite knowing Minagawa Jun never kept a cat seeing as she was allergic.

"Thank you . . . Still a shame her pet can't be found . . ." she said with a pout before turning away. "I should be going. They're expecting me at the theater."

She didn't get very far away as he grabbed her by the wrist, drawing her back into his arms. "But weren't you out with your girlfriends last night? Why don't you stay home with me, eh?"

"I know, darling, but you know them . . . They make such demands for my time, even if they are good friends," Takara said with a giggle in her voice, standing still as the old man kissed her cheek. She tried to pull away again, but he held her still, a hand clamped over her shoulder. A shiver ran under her skin as his kisses came closer and closer to her lips. Just before he could properly kiss her, her head turned. "Nobu, I really don't have time–"

"My dear mistress, when was the last time I truly embraced you?"

"Nobu . . ."

"Cancel your plans, Takara," he ordered softly, slowly peeling the fur coat from her shoulders.

"I can't! They're expecting me! It's bad form to cancel at the last minute!" the blonde protested, yanking the coat back on. "Really, I will see you later."

Just as she tried to move away again, he grabbed her roughly. With a shove, he pushed her up against one of the foyer's plaster walls. Takara gasped but didn't scream; even as he pinned her, she remained still. "Nobu! This isn't–!"

"I know where you're really going, my treasure."

She froze with a chill running down her spine, fear in her brown eyes. Nobu loomed over her, holding her wrists still when she started to struggle. His voice whispered in her ear, making her stop. "And I also know who you went to see last week. I know other men have touched you besides me, like Shinjiro . . . and Hiro."

"You can't possibly believe I'd–!"

"No, I know you are . . ." he whispered with a hint of sadness, a hand wrapped over her throat as he harshly kissed her golden skin. "I have been tolerant because I knew you wouldn't replace me. You love my money too much. Now, I'm not so sure . . ."

"Please, Nobu . . . you can't think I would abandon you . . . I . . ." she pleaded as he slid the coat from her arms to fall at their feet. Grasping a strap of her red dress, he ripped it downwards with a tear of silk satin. The blonde stood still as he kissed her, moaning into his mouth as he pressed against her. Whether she wanted it or not, her arms rose up to wrap around his neck until she clung to him. He pulled away and yanked her long hair as her neck bent backwards, whispering in her ear again as her body moved against his. "I do not need you, Takara, except for one thing. I will take what I need from you, tonight, or you will leave this house and my bed permanently. So I ask again, will you stay?"

"Yes."

His hips thrust into hers and the fist full of hair tightened, making her cry out. "Say it again."

"Yes!"

"Now, my golden one, to remind you who your real master is . . ."

* * *

The thump of the loud bass in the air moved Ino's pulse for her while the mass of bodies around her moving to the beat refused to part to let her through. Growling, she pushed her way through, coming out the other side into a dark, secluded corner of the dark club. Above her was the trample of shoes sounding loudly on steel catwalks, a network of them ringing the club. Everything about the entire place looked like it had been brought out of a rundown industrial factory, from the rusty steel framework and concrete blocks to the cement pavement purposefully chipped for texture. The only things out of place were the polished wood dance floor, the stainless steel bar, and the tawdry furniture. Her lilac heels stomped across the hardwood onto the pavement, then towards one fake leather upholstered booth in particular, sliding down onto the bench to stare at the man across from her. "No luck." 

"You couldn't find them?"

She sighed, leaning back very inelegantly despite wearing a slim lavender dress covered in violet lace and beads. "I'm not a search hound, Genma, and I better not be the only one of us doing any looking all night. These shoes are killing me."

He smirked, leaning back heavily as well until he was sprawled all over the opposite bench. Even if the shoes were killing her, they made her legs look impossibly long and hard for his brown eyes to resist. Realizing he was staring again, he sobered up quickly, glancing over at the rest of the club. Damnit, when would he ever learn to stop playing with fire? Ever since that disastrous morning, he'd been actively avoiding getting entangled with the blonde. To think he'd almost kissed her too! He shouldn't have done that at all, briefly forgetting for the span of half a minute all the reasons why it would never work out with Ino. If she hadn't called him nice, which he really was, and if she hadn't been so close, which was really close, then maybe he wouldn't have been tempted to kiss her. Hell, the red tint of her lips was enough to dangerously tempt him to reach across and plant one on her before she could protest.

The kiss would be worth the ensuing slap, yet Genma quickly buried that thought anyway. The job came first, after all . . . and there was the fact that it would never work! Why couldn't his brain understand that part and convince the rest of his body of the same thing? The ninja shifted uncomfortably, watching as Ino's legs crossed at the knee to dangle off the side of the booth when she turned. His eyes were glued to her pale skin, and he was grateful that she was ignoring him to look off towards the club entrance. "They left not too long after we did. What do you think is holding them up?"

"We took the fast way here," he muttered, scratching his neck in distraction. "And knowing Kakashi, he's giving her a last minute pep talk."

The blonde snorted, smoothing down the beaded lace covering her dress. "Wish he was giving her more than that so we could go home."

"Is that all you think about? Ending this mission?"

"For today? Yes. I'm frustrated with this entire watching bit, aren't you?"

"I thought you'd declared earlier today that one-eye's armor was close to cracking? Having your doubts now that they've spent all afternoon avoiding each other and just being pleasant to one another?" Genma questioned her, watching the uneasiness disappear from her face as quickly as it came. "I don't like this any more than you do, Ino, but it's time we got over our bitching. If something does happen tonight . . . then wouldn't all this surveillance have been worth it?"

She didn't say anything as her blue eyes looked him over. It was just her usual complaining and he probably assumed she that wanted this mission to be over. There were other reasons she wanted this thing done, most of which probably weren't apparent to Genma at all. The way he looked at her with those deep brown eyes of his, like milk chocolate she could melt into, was just one of the reasons she wanted it to be over. Just the thought of it made her legs want the rub against each other to alleviate some of the itch longing to be scratched.

Ino blushed and looked away, repeating over in her head what she had told herself that morning in the bathroom. It would never work, never ever work, and deluding herself that it could wouldn't make it any easier. Shikamaru fit her better: he needed a woman like her whereas Genma would only break her heart. So what if she was settling for the less complicated man? Safe sometimes could still equal happiness, and after wanting him for so long, why should she change her mind? Sakura didn't call her Pig for nothing, after all; she was stubborn like her boar-ish namesake. The mission would end soon and then she could put her pig-headedness back into chasing Shikamaru rather than fending off Shiranui's many charms. When it was over, it would all be over. She let go a soft breath, letting her thoughts fly out with it. The best she could do was wait for something to happen that night and hope.

Distracted, she didn't see Genma stand up until he walked past her, stopping to grab her hand and help her to her feet. "They're here."

* * *

Sakura stared at the concrete block building adorned with colorful lights across from her as a line of people milled around the exterior. She could hear the pulsing beat from the inside clearly, a blast of music escaping each time another group was admitted into the club or exited it. It didn't strike her as the type of place where Hiro would meet Takara, but . . . "You sure this is it?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder into the shadows. 

"Yes, this was the place in his book listing. Date with Takara. Obviously he's trying to compensate for not being as young as the woman he's sleeping with."

She tried not to frown. Somewhere around her, Kakashi was watching her from the darkness, but she couldn't tell exactly where from at the moment. She didn't even feel his chakra, which both of them kept masked just in case. "Relax, I'll be right behind you," she heard him whisper from the other direction as if he were standing over her shoulder, making her head turn towards the sound.

Just hearing his reassuring voice gave her a small sense of comfort. No matter what happened, he would be there, watching and protecting her in case something went horribly wrong. Yet, they couldn't afford for something to go wrong, which wiped away that comfort quickly. Her hands shook in nervousness until she jabbed them into the deep pockets of her velvet longcoat, grasping the vial hidden there. She was a kunoichi of the Leaf. She could do complex medical jutsu with her eyes closed. She had already successfully pulled a similar trick on the Great Copy Nin, an even harder man to fool. She could do this . . . if only she didn't want to throw up at the thought of seducing Hiro. "I can't do this . . ." she whispered, a quiet tremor in her voice.. "He's Jun's scumbag husband! I can't seduce him! If she finds out what we're­–?! I can't!"

"This isn't a question of can and can't, Sakura, but must," Kakashi said sternly. "You must do this."

"But how can I? You were right. I've never actively pursued men before. I don't know what to do. I can't–!"

"You've done it once already. You did it to me last night without having any second thoughts about it."

"But you are different . . ." she trailed off, staring at the club's entrance. Seducing Kakashi left her feeling guilty, not dirty, unlike the thought of Hiro which alone made her want to scrub her skin raw. But he was right. It wasn't a matter of could or could not, but must. She had to be the one, or else all this planning would have been for nothing. She wouldn't be able to face Jun, but if it gave the woman her husband back, it was worth it. "You'll be right behind me?" Sakura asked softly.

"The whole time. Trust me."

Slowly, she nodded and started to walk forward while mumbling to herself. "I do trust you, Kakashi. At least enough to catch me when I fall on my face."

* * *

Genma pulled her onto the crowded dance floor just as the disguised Sakura entered the club's entrance and began walking down the short stone stairway past the coat check. Ino kept her eyes locked onto her friend as they blended into the gyrating masses, all while attempting to ignore the shinobi's scent as he held her close without really dancing. He did smell good, she thought idly as her mouth unconsciously salivated at the scent of spice on him. He did look good too, with his hair pulled loosely back, leaving a few strands dangling over his eyes. And he did make that deep red shirt and black slacks look . . . Wait, where was she supposed to be looking again? Oh, right, Sakura. 

Her eyes caught the black-clad woman as she moved through the sea of bodies towards the bar to take a seat. Less than a minute later, Kakashi came up behind her, taking the stool beside her. Well, she assumed it was the Copy Nin, even if he didn't look like himself, from the way they talked, quickly and familiarly, not that she could see his chakra to know. He was as heavily disguised as his partner, the silver hair turned blood red with the scar and eye patch missing, replaced with a pair of emerald green eyes. The only thing that was the same was the black clothes from earlier, the distinctive mask pulled down to drape in a cowl around his neck.

The ninja moved around her back to look as well, watching the pair himself from over Ino's shoulder. "Last minute pep talk?" Genma whispered into her ear as the dance beat slowed down drastically to a slow grind.

The blonde leaned her back into him, not minding for the moment that his hands were all over her waist and hips. "I don't know . . . Can't hear from here . . ."

His breath picked up slightly and slid over her cheek, making her skin burn as it occurred to her that they were much too close for politeness. Looking around them only made Ino's blush worsen as they weren't the only couple appearing to be overfriendly with each other, except they weren't a couple. The blonde tried to pull away only to feel his arm locked over her abdomen, keeping her still. "Don't panic. Just watch."

She bit her lip to keep from making a noise, watching as the pair continued to talk before Sakura downed a shot glass of something alcoholic and stood back up. She walked across the dance floor without him but soon Kakashi followed her, disappearing into the people around them. "You don't think–?" Ino start to ask, the blush not going away.

Genma grinned to himself as his nose sniffed in the scent of the kunoichi's blonde hair. Geez, she smelled good. Well, most women smelled good, but he could almost taste the vanilla clinging to her. He felt her shiver under his hands and the temptation was too much anymore to resist or ignore. "How about we not worry about them for the moment, and just dance?"

"Wait, I don't think–"

Her protests stopped at the hand gliding over her stomach as well as the feeling of him moving behind her. It was just a dance, right? The hand was very persuasive in that aspect, coaxing her into turning around to face him. He pulled Ino close again, and her mouth finally snapped shut. She was not about to argue, not with her skin shuddering and his hands in places she couldn't remember any other man's being. Whether she wanted to or not, her body moved instinctively to the music, led by his hands. It was getting a lot harder to remember all those arguments as to why it would never work between them, but it was also becoming quite easier to equate the melting feeling of her insides with chocolate. His knee wedged between her legs, making her gasp at the feeling of his hips against hers. His hands coaxed her to move with him, and she followed to the beat, her fingers clinging to his shirt. She felt his lips on the lobe of her ear, and her breath hitched.

No matter how good it felt, though, something felt wrong as much as it felt right. She shouldn't be doing this, not with him, even if it felt so . . . "Genma . . ." Ino whispered before she completely lost herself while dancing with him. "We shouldn't . . . I can't . . ."

As soon as the words left her mouth, he stopped, pushing away from her. The moment her eyes met his, something in the brown depths made her blush turn bright red. No man had ever looked at her that intensely before, and it made every nerve in her body stand on end. He hadn't just undressed her with his eyes in a flash, but seen under her skin, exposing all her secrets and desires, or at least that's what it felt like under his scrutiny.

All too soon the burning look was replaced with one of regret. Genma didn't look at her anymore, purposefully walking towards the bar. She followed behind him, the heat in the pit of her stomach driving her feet to keep up with him. "Wait. Can we talk about what just happened?"

"No, you need to work and I need to get a drink."

The noise level of the music rose up with the beat again, almost drowning her out as she screeched at him. "What?!"

"Go get our coats and get ready to move," he grumbled. "We'll wait for them outside in a little and follow."

"What about you, you big dolt? Can't get your own damned coat?! And why the hell aren't you going to say anything?!" Ino spat at him. Suddenly Genma grabbed her wrist, pulling her dangerously close again with the same intense stare that demanded her undivided attention. He had it completely as she stood still, her heart beating wildly in her throat as he came so close to kissing her once again. Yet, once more he could also see the fear in her blue eyes, just like when she had pulled away that morning. He let go of her wrist, backing away. "Just go, Ino, and don't get this close to me again tonight . . ."

. . . not if you want to preserve your modesty.

The blonde's knees quaked as she backed away. She took one last look, then turned around to dive headlong into the crowd without another word as Genma finally breathed more easily.

He was screwed, very much screwed, and as soon as he found something to drink, he might as well be fucked. Ino . . . Damnit! If she was just a little looser in her morals, there wouldn't be so much to potentially mess up between them. If she didn't look so damned good, he might not have been so sorely tempted. If she had been a dumb blonde, which she wasn't, he wouldn't give a damn about her, except he cared a little too much about her now.

Grumbling, he turned back to see Kakashi seated at the bar again, but alone this time and with two more full shots in front of him. He smirked at his friend's predicament and walked toward the far end of the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura sitting in a secluded booth on a large, raised platform near the dance floor, separated by ropes. She flirted heavily with another dark-haired man, which he could only assume was that Hiro guy they kept talking about.

His only consolation in this whole enterprise was that he wasn't the only one currently feeling screwed.

* * *

Sakura wasn't at all surprised when Kakashi sat down next to her. After passing through the door, turning in her coat while palming the vial and slipping it into her shorts' side pocket, and making her way over the noisy, crowded dance floor, his company was more than welcome. Finding Hiro in the mass of people wasn't hard. The section of the club devoted to the city's fabulous and fabulously wealthy elite could easily be spotted between the bar and the entrance on a series of raised cement platforms surrounded by furniture more luxurious than the synthetic booths in the back. The four-eyed man looked bored sitting there, yet anxious as well. Sakura only had one guess why: Takara, or rather, her abscence. Apparently the blonde had not called to tell him she wasn't going to show, and it made the kunoichi smile slightly. "I don't think he's realized he's been stood up," she said, a finger toying with the rim of her shot glass. 

At the moment, she didn't feel like drinking what was probably very cheap whiskey that the bar charged too much for and would burn horribly on the way down her throat. Kakashi drank the similar shot placed in front of him in one gulp before turning towards her. "I told you Nobu would do it."

She frowned and looked away; a coil of nervousness was throttling her chest as her stomach turned in knots. Her fingers drummed nervously on the steel bar top. "I don't know if I can . . . I mean. How can Hiro even notice me in this crowd?"

"If you haven't noticed, there are men all around you staring at you, and quite a few women too. I think I noticed this one guy in a dress looking at your–"

Sakura turned red. "Thanks. Now that I know everyone except for our target is watching me, I feel so much better."

He smirked, listening as the song changed to something with a slower beat. "Maybe you should start with something small first, like dancing before him until he does notice you. Then you can work your way up to getting around that rope and into his pants."

"Dancing . . . my forte," she sighed in resignation, looking back at the shot glass. "In a place like this, it's probably like sex on hardwood."

Kakashi coughed, trying not to think about that subject around her. "Well, if it works . . ."

"Is that all he's going to think about? Sex?" she asked, sounding distracted. At the moment, watching her boot kick slowly back and forth on the floor, it was all Kakashi could think about. Her choice of his shirt left her arms exposed along with part of her stomach, as her shorts left a strip of flesh across her thighs naked. All the bare skin reminded him too much of their morning together, and not just seeing it all, but feeling the smooth and rough spots under his fingers.

The memory made him think too much about what had nearly occurred. What could have happened if she hadn't stopped him? What if it had all been real after all? He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to throw all that caution to the wind, and give in to what he'd been fighting for so long to deny . . . not that he would. All he did was think about it, and in the end, reject the idea of it happening again. "He won't be after your sparkling personality," the ninja said bitterly, pushing the glass away. "You should just get it over with. If I've done it before, so can you. Just flirt with him, make him think you're interested, let him get drunk, paw at you a little, and then casually suggest he take you home."

"What about Takara? Do you think he would betray her like that?"

"He's already betrayed his marriage bed. No reason for him to stop now."

Now there was something she could believe. If they were already thinking the worst of Hiro, why not just damn him completely? But she knew the answer to that, too. If only Jun really didn't love her husband anymore, everything could have been so much easier. Sakura grasped her shot glass, about to lift it from the table, when Kakashi asked a question that made her pause. "Before you do this . . . last night . . . did you mean any of it?"

She sat up straight. Her booted foot stopped kicking the floor. "You're asking that now?"

"Just tell me, did you mean it or not?"

"I . . . I don't know. I was too busy trying to drug you to sort out my personal feelings until it was over, and even then, it was mostly guilt and regret," she said softly. "Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't matter. I just wanted to know, that's all," Kakashi said, devoid of emotion. "Not that I felt anything. I'm sure you didn't either."

She looked over at the shinobi, studying his profile. If he was lying to her, Sakura couldn't detect it in his voice or reaction. She kept looking, though, taking in his appearance. She missed the silver hair; she never was a fan of red or even the blood-soaked red of his henge. Yet, he still looked like the man she knew from the same familiar quirks of his, such as the way his hand was jabbed into his pants pocket and the slouched way he sat. Some small things only she could see through the disguise to know it was him, like the old scar on the outside of his middle finger knuckle of his right hand from one miscalculatingly thrown shuriken. He was still Kakashi all right, just hiding his appearance as well as his genuine thoughts.

Maybe . . . she had lied a little too about the night before, blushing slightly at the memory. How could she forget that? The sight truly was ingrained in her brain now, never to be lost. Her eyes closed, almost seeing the memory replay itself behind her eyelids. Perhaps she'd lied when she'd said that regret and guilt were the only things she felt, but they were the majority of it. At least she'd believed she'd lied until the urge kicked in to disbelieve it. What did it matter if she felt a spark of want for him or not? It wouldn't matter what she felt anyway. Everything else, she convinced herself, didn't feel like anything at all. There was nothing there between them, the same as always. Things were never going to change, even if she could admit to herself that she wanted some form of change from him. But they both said that they didn't want a thing to change, so . . .

That was the way it was for them, even if it left her feeling nothing, not even numb. Numb was not the same as feeling nothing. At least numb was a tangible feeling, unlike emptiness. With emptiness, she could do anything and never fill the void back up again. Regret and guilt aside, after seducing Kakashi, Sakura had convincingly convinced herself that she simply felt nothing. Really, if she could do what she did to her partner and friend yet still feel nothing, like she deceived herself into believing was the case, then she could do the same to Hiro.

The emptiness chilled her to the bone, reminding her once again that if she felt nothing afterwards, anything was possible.

But, before she felt that way again for another night, the need burned in her to feel something else. It was so stupid for her to be thinking like that now! Hiro could leave at any moment and their chance would be gone, but there she was, imagining Kakashi in ways she knew she shouldn't. She knew he could dance. The party had proved as much, but . . . she still wondered what else about him he'd kept quiet about throughout their four years together. Surely ten years and countless Icha Icha novels hadn't deadened his senses completely like he had suggested the night before at dinner. If he was totally uninterested in women and sex nowadays, then why did he keep staring at her? If she did admit to feeling a spark of desire for him, would he still freak out like he had that morning? Why did he, really? Only someone in deep denial would overreact that dramatically. Why?

Her inner self looked at the ninja as well, taunting her with all that had happened since the start of the mission. Ever since that book of his had gone missing, he'd been a mess. Why would he need them so badly unless he used them to cope with something he otherwise couldn't handle?

For once, Sakura wanted to find the answers to her lingering questions. If he refused, he refused, but if he didn't . . .

"You know, I remember you saying one night not too long ago that you could tango," she said, swirling the shot glass in her hand. "Should I believe you?"

He looked at her, confused. "And you're asking this now?"

"Humor me."

"That was not a fabrication," Kakashi said with a slightly roguish grin that dissolved into a frown. "Don't you have a job to do?"

So much for a subtle approach, not that subtlety worked on him when it didn't involve preplanned code words.

Sakura slid up from the stool and rose to her feet, lifting the shot with her. She tossed the drink back in a single gulp, winced at the burn, and put the glass back down. "I was about to offer a practical demonstration if you were up to it," the kunoichi said with a pout before turning on her heel. "But suit yourself, then. I can find someone else to dance with."

He blinked, then shot up after her as she started to move across the dance floor. Before he could grab her wrist, she stopped suddenly while staring off, then turned to face him, smiling slightly. "I take it you changed your mind?"

Her foot stepped in close to Kakashi's personal space, and he let her until her body was nearly pressed against him. His hand stopped her shoulder as he took a step back. "What do you want, Sakura?"

"Just one last dance . . . sensei," she teased as her arms encircled his neck. "You owe me a tango."

"This isn't tango music," the ninja grumbled, ignoring for the moment that she was all over him, which honestly didn't feel too bad. "And don't call me sensei."

Sakura didn't say anything else, her hips swaying to the irregular beat while moving against him. Kakashi's heart thumped faster than the music as he stood perfectly still, solid like a rock despite the test to his will. Her fingers tugged on the fallen mask, pulling him closer until he could breathe in her scent. His eyes closed as he took it in, cherry and plum blossoms. Consciously or not, his grip on her shoulder shifted, slowly sliding down her back to the top of her hips. Every warning in his head went off that he should not be pulling her closer, but he did anyway, their bodies locking together as she ground against him. Her nails, which he noted were painted pink for the occasion, dug into his shirt, grasping for a piece of him.

If only her hair was still pink and her eyes still green, then maybe it would have felt like the real her in his arms, dancing very dirtily with him, instead of someone else. Much like that morning, none of it felt real, only this time he was sober enough to know that it was very much real. Sakura's body twisted with the beat, the music sounding nearly as loud as his pulse in his ears. Her forehead touched his, her warm, whiskey-laden breath washing over his face. He could have kissed her then, but he didn't, even if her hands gripped insistently at his hair for just that. She bit her pink lips, and he could have sworn he heard her moan as his better sense finally won out. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because he's watching us, Kakashi, and I really did want one more dance," Sakura whispered back. Holding her tightly, he bent her over in a dip, her leg wrapped over his hips. Out of the corner of his eye, he found Hiro's booth. Sure enough, the man was watching them, or rather he was watching Sakura. The intent he saw in the executive's eyes towards her was apparent.

He pulled her back up, spinning her away from him until their hands broke apart. What she had called their last dance was over, even if it tugged at Kakashi's mind as just the beginning of something else. She was smiling at him charmingly, as if promising something for later, but he knew it was just acting for Hiro's benefit. "Time to go to work," she whispered under her breath.

"Be careful."

"I'll be fine," Sakura said with another false smile, knowing she was lying for him. Perhaps that was a good thing, as he certainly wasn't fine, either.

He watched idly as she moved through the crowd before being stopped by a pair of bouncers who then ushered her into the VIP section. Moving back to the bar, he watched as the kunoichi was presented to Hiro's table. They exchanged greetings and she sat down while he moved in closer. The intent was still evident as he leaned in towards her, grinning as she flirted back, appearing from a distance to be flattered.

Sakura was in, and he . . .

Kakashi didn't know what he was now as he sat down on the stool again, even more confused by the woman plaguing his thoughts. The memory of just a few moments ago played over in his head, even if it didn't seem as real as it had felt. Feeling her against him felt all too real, a sensation that made him, well . . . His hand dug into his pants pocket, attempting to forget that aspect of his problem in the hope that it just would go away on its own. Why did she–? It felt like the night before, like she was pulling his strings again, but why? Was it all for Hiro's benefit, or truly for his alone? She couldn't possibly . . .

The thought was pure absurdity. Sakura felt nothing for him. It was an act to tease him, even if it felt more like torture.

He groaned, burying his face in his hands. Wordlessly, the bartender put two more shots of something dark, strong, and on ice in front of him. Somehow, he didn't feel like drinking anymore while on this particular mission. Kakashi looked up to glare at the man, gesturing towards the glasses. The bartender smirked. "I had the feeling you needed the ice more than the booze to cool off."

The ninja smirked back and glanced over towards Sakura and Hiro, watching her as she flirted while he drank. It was actually working. In maybe a few more minutes, the executive would be thinking about his bed, and probably her in it. The sight was incredibly sad to watch too, knowing that he was both married and had another mistress, even if it was great for their cause. All the ninja could do was shake his head and wait. The bartender eventually noticed his glance too, and snickered. "And don't feel too bad about losing her either. That guy is going to be in for a rude awakening in the morning if he takes 'that' home."

The ninja's eyebrow rose up as the man continued. "Yup, I see one a night. This town is loose like that. Looks so damned good that one almost fooled me too, but you know how you can tell? It's because they're all flat as a board. Real women around here always got a little something up top, and nothing else under the hood."

Kakashi smirked, and downed half of one of the shots before pushing the rest away. "Thank you for the drink, and the tip."

"Don't mention it, and hey, I won't mention that you almost fell for that thing, too."

He stood up, putting some money down on the bar. "Don't mention anything about 'it' to anyone else, either. I've got a good feeling 'she' will be going home with someone tonight. I'd prefer they figure it out the hard way."

The bartender laughed, stuffing the cash into a pocket. "You got it."

Kakashi turned and started to walk out of the club, stopping momentarily as he saw movement by Hiro's table. He watched as they stood up as well, walking together towards the entrance. A bitter grin crossed his face. She'd done it, almost. There was still the whole part of drugging him, but for Sakura, this was the hardest part, even if it was only the beginning. Tailing behind them as they got their coats and stepped out into the night, the ninja muttered to himself while pulling his mask back up and dropping the henge. "That's my girl."

Except, she wasn't really his at all.

* * *

End Notes – 

Soundtrack for the Club scenes – Love Song by Snake River Conspiracy, Angel by Massive Attack, Dive For You by Boom Boom Satellites.

To Be Continued in Part 11 of Dirty Deeds, Whispers in the Shadows.


	11. Whispers in the Shadows

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 11 – Whispers in the Shadows

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content, as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

The door to the dark apartment slowly creaked open and two people walked inside. The dark-haired man went first, turning on two lights as he passed as well as shucking off his coat. He dropped the garment and the keys still in his hands in his haste, then stumbled slightly over his own feet, trying to pick them up. Sounding defeated, he groaned as the woman behind him entered as well. She walked slowly and sinuously while taking in the new surroundings, smiling softly when he looked up at her, obviously smitten. Gentle peals of laughter rolled off her tongue before she said graciously, "Why don't you let me get that while you find us something to drink?"

Dumbly, Hiro nodded, looking more sober as he stood up straight again and rubbed his brow. He shuffled off towards a kitchen to the left that opened into the living room, stepping carefully up a small set of stairs leading upwards. "I think I had too much of the hard stuff tonight. Not as much as usual, just a touch too much . . ." he trailed off, leaving his back to the mysterious woman. "I don't think I quite heard your name right back there at the club. What was it again?"

Sakura narrowly avoided rolling her eyes at the man's back, picking up the fallen brown coat and keys. He hadn't really asked her name at the club, and she had really offered one either. What would he care? By morning he'd be cursing her name, anyway. Moving quickly, she found a coat rack by the right of the door as well as a small table with a phone. Tossing the keys there, the kunoichi hung both their coats as she heard him rattling around the kitchen. She quickly patted her pocket, making sure the vial was still there, then turned around to look at the rest of the place. Seeing the series of rooms she was currently in wasn't the same as actually being there. Like much of Snowfall, the apartment felt cold: all hardwood floors, white walls, and furniture in either black, glass, or stainless steel. Only blinds hung above the windows, and they looked as if they hadn't been drawn lately.

Hugging herself, she walked down the short hallway, past the kitchen, into the living room, and past an open door to the right, through which she saw the bed. The sight of it made her steps pick up until she stood before an expansive window. Something about seeing the night sky made her let go of her troubled breath and thoughts, even if there was a bloody tint to the moon and skyline, like before yet another snowstorm. Somewhere out there was Kakashi, waiting for her to make her move, and it brought back a tiny piece comfort she thought she'd lost when she'd first walked into the club. This was the easy part now, slipping the drug to Hiro and waiting for him to be knocked out. She could relax a little. Her eyes searched the rooftop across the streets that they had used before for their stakeouts, looking for some sign of the Copy Nin's presence. She didn't expect to find anything, and did indeed see nothing . . . until the outline of someone darting across the rooftop made her blink, then smile.

Perhaps she was being watched by him after all.

Sakura heard footsteps behind her, and upon turning around, found Hiro standing by one of the black, plush chairs holding two glasses of red wine. "You still haven't answered my question . . ."

"What was that?" she asked blankly with smile, despite having heard him the first time. "I think all the drinks are getting to me, too."

"Your name?"

Sakura grinned, not just to him, but also to herself. "Hanako, Yamada Hanako."

Hiro nodded, walking towards her with one outstretched glass. "Flower, eh?"

She gave a soft laugh, even if there was no feeling behind it, and accepted the wine from him. Her eyes then drifted down to the platinum band on his hand. "I didn't notice that before . . . You're married, aren't you?"

For a moment, he looked nervous, quickly putting his hand over the other to cover the ring, then sighed in reluctance. "Yeah, I am . . . or was rather?"

"Your wife left you?"

"More like the other way around . . . I couldn't understand her anymore. She had changed so much . . ."

Sakura put a lid on her quickly rising temper, wanting to yell at him about how much of an idiot he was. Doing that, though, would only blow everything, so she bit the inside of her mouth to keep quiet and emotionless. He moved away from her, plopping down on a nearby couch with a heavy thud. "I mean, I did love my wife, but everything she did sort of broke the relationship we had. I don't . . . I don't even know what I'm saying, trying to explain it to you. You probably don't care about my problems, right?"

Shrugging, she moved to sit beside to him. "I care enough to listen."

Hiro looked relieved, leaning back on the couch. "There are times when I do miss my wife, and times when I think I did the right thing. I plan to divorce her when everything is settled in the company, which I'm sure won't surprise her. It is better that way, if I set her free . . . but I don't think I'll try the marriage thing ever again."

Her grip on the stem tightened, threatening to break the glass. "Oh? Not into commitment anymore?"

"Would I have brought you here if I was anymore?"

"So I'm not the first, then?"

"No . . ." Hiro admitted with a tone of guilt in his voice. "I do have something of a girlfriend, but . . ."

Sakura's eyebrows rose up as he continued, waving dismissively before raising the wine glass. "She's so demanding, my mistress. I know I'm not good enough for her, and the little things she does keeps reminding me of it. All these issues at work keep coming up, and she keeps trying to console me for it. I really like the coddling. Everyone I work with hates her and adores my crazy wife, yet Takara doesn't even attempt to make friends with them. Sometimes I even forget why I like her until I fall back in bed with her and remember."

He took a drink as a smirk threatened to spread across her face. "She makes you feel young again."

"Yeah, you could say that. Like the man I never was but always wanted to be. I always felt second to Jun . . . Maybe I really am going through a mid-life crisis like everyone says I am," he grumbled. "Sorry, it's one of those nights for me. I can't tell this to my girlfriend because she'd scream and yell that I don't care for her, and my wife or anyone else would take it the wrong way. Yet, you seem easy to talk to, Hanako. I'm glad you were there tonight and Takara wasn't."

"I suppose that's a compliment, then," Sakura said with a charming smile. "Everyone I know says I'm an easy person."

Hiro grinned a little lecherously, and then polished off the rest of his glass. He grunted and started to get up. "Forgot to bring the damned bottle."

She stopped him, though, while rising up first. "Why don't you let me get it? You look tired, anyway."

He stopped as she leaned over him, delicately moving a messy strand of black hair away from his eyes. She smiled with a small giggle as his expression turned completely goofy. "I'll even tuck you in tonight."

"I think I might like that . . ."

"Go wait for me then. I'll be quick."

Nodding, Hiro stood up and brushed past her with a few stilted steps towards the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Sakura shook her head while grabbing the wine glasses before walking with them into the kitchen. That man was an utter mess, more so than he claimed Jun to be. He was wishy-washy, shallow, inept, oversexed, and so much more from what he'd been saying so far. On top of that, he was pitiful, mean, selfish, and then some from his reactions to all the pranks they'd seen for the past week and a half. The only part of him that could make her like him a little was how adorable he was when he was miserable.

Sighing to herself, she dumped her glass in the nearby sink, found the opened wine bottle on the counter, and set the glasses beside it. Glancing towards the bedroom door, the kunoichi slipped the vial from her pocket and unscrewed the lid. There was no telling how paranoid Hiro could be, so drugging both drinks would avoid any problems. She hadn't even touched her first glass anyway, not that he would probably notice. Her pulse jumped slightly in anticipation as she lifted the eye-dropper over the neck of the green glass bottle. Squeezing the rubber bulb, a few drops of clear liquid fell straight down into the red liquid and disappeared. Sakura let out a held breath; it was done. Quickly putting the dropper back into the vial, she screwed it shut and shoved it back into her pocket. Gently swirling the wine, she poured the drugged drink into both glasses and dumped the scant remainder down the sink. "No evidence."

Picking up both glasses, she walked over to the bedroom door, hearing movement on the other side. Sakura nudged it open with her arm and saw him finishing tying a knot in the belt holding his dark red silk robe closed in the darkness. The first thing she noticed was that his clothes were all over the floor, including a pair of black boxers she didn't want to think about. The second was the way he smiled at her when the door opened, half-pleased and half-nervous. His expression and the fact that he was undressed didn't help her nerves at all. Sakura faked another smile, which he bought easily while returning a more genuine one. He sat down as she walked over, handing him one of the wine glasses. "You were quick."

Hiro took the glass and started to raise it to his lips as the kunoichi smiled for two very different reasons. "Well, it was so easy to find, and besides, I like being helpful."

He chuckled and took a sip, then a gulp, draining at least half of the wine down his throat before setting it down on a black lacquered nightstand next to his eyeglasses. Sakura's smile didn't lessen any as she moved around the giant bed, taking in the grey fur coverlet over a heavy, black quilt before putting her glass down as well on the opposite stand. The bedroom felt like the rest of the house: cold and impersonal. The bed was book-ended by two nightstands with dark bedside lamps on each. A matching dresser sat behind her, along the wall between two open doors, one leading into the darkened bathroom and the other into a hung mass of clothes she deemed to be a closet. Windows occupied the far wall across from her while to the left sat two bookcases, filled with a few books and endless artful objects. There wasn't one picture frame to be found, like every other home she'd seen so far in Snowfall. Didn't any of these people keep pictures?

She pushed aside the longing she felt for her own bedroom back in Konoha, filled with pictures of her family, friends, her past team and current partner, and knelt on the bed with one leg before sinking down to rest on her side. Hiro turned towards her, yawning in the process, then groaning groggily. "I really need to stop drinking my problems away. It cannot be good for me."

She giggled as he slowly laid back with an exhausted sigh. "I didn't drink this much before, you know. Ever since Jun's father died and the will was read, it's been one problem after another. Takara doesn't like that I drink, but doesn't stop me either."

"Maybe she just doesn't care enough to bother," Sakura offered.

Hiro's face scrunched up in distaste. "You could be right . . . but she will probably still care enough to get pissed if we . . ."

He trailed off, shifting in the bed slightly. She knew what he would have said too, and it made her want to shift herself away from him. "I think I should go."

Just as Sakura started to get up, he waved at her until she sunk back down. "No, stay . . . you're too nice and sweet, and I'm too lonely to be alone right now."

"What about your mistress, or your wife?" she asked pointedly, sitting this time on her leg while folding her arms in her lap. "Won't they be upset with a third party?"

Though he was almost squinting in the absence of his glasses, he grinned at her with a hint of devilry in his brown eyes. "I'm just asking you to . . . stay."

Yawning again, he turned towards her as his eyes started to droop. Sakura leaned forward, holding her breath while listening intently as his voice lowered to almost nothing. "Shared bodily warmth . . . can . . . feel . . . sleep . . ."

Hiro's head rolled back as he went limp. She exhaled, then grinned, muttering, "Finally."

The kunoichi shot off the bed and bounded towards the window. He had to have seen that, right? Kakashi had said he'd be watching, which made her look frantically at the roof opposite the apartment building for some other sign of movement, like before. The moments ticked by, but she saw nothing. Sakura glanced over at a clock on one of the nightstands and saw that five minutes had passed since Hiro had passed out. Where was he? She stalked out of the bedroom and back into the hallway by the apartment door, pacing while visibly agitated. The Copy Nin should have been there by now, or at least signaled he would be on his way over so that she could let him in. Her stomach twisted in knots as she looked at another clock in the kitchen; eight minutes had passed already. "He picks wonderful times to be late," she grumbled to herself as she turned towards the door, opening it.

Sticking her head out into the hallway, she looked up to see a familiar masked face with a mop of silver hair on top. His eye creased happily as he raised his hand. "Yo."

Sakura gave an exhausted sigh while moving out of the way of the door. "Took you long enough. It shouldn't have taken you eight minutes to get across from that roof."

Kakashi blinked as he stepped into the apartment. "Roof? What do you mean? I wasn't on any roof."

"You were supposed to be on the roof over there waiting for me to knock him out, you dolt!" Sakura hissed at him, pointing frantically towards the windows. "You said you'd be watching!"

"Well, I was going to until I saw a lady fumbling with groceries while trying to get inside the front door to the building. I held the door, helped her with the bags . . . and conveniently let myself in as well. I've been waiting outside ever since," Kakashi explained, crossing his arms. "Really, I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it."

The color drained from Sakura's face in that moment. If it wasn't him she saw on the roof earlier, then who was it? Before she could tell him her suspicions, the shinobi moved past her towards the bedroom. "Come along, Sakura-chan. We have work to do."

Mutely, she followed, even if her worry made her pause at least twice in her steps to hesitate and glance towards the windows. "I'm just seeing things," she whispered under her breath, "just seeing things."

* * *

Ino and Genma sat side by side on the ledge in the darkness, watching the building across the way and the two ninja within. The blonde fidgeted on her perch, struggling to both keep from falling off as well as to keep the short skirt of her dress down with her coat closed, and all while peering through a pair of binoculars while in the cold. She glanced over at the brown-haired ninja who peered through his own pair while pretending to ignore her very existence. Not once since they'd left the club did he breathe one word to her, and shock of all shocks, she missed hearing him speak. Somehow, the comforting back and forth was gone, replace by pure business. He even chewed on the toothpick in his mouth like he meant it, almost grinding it in his teeth.

She fought down the sigh, watching as Sakura glanced for the third time straight towards their location. Frowning, she pulled the binoculars away from her eyes. "She saw us, you know," Ino grumbled, "or more specifically, she saw you."

Genma didn't say anything, keeping his eyes focused on watching the pair at work. She huffed at being ignored again, forcing his concentration to break. "She doesn't know it's us. Stop complaining."

"I'm not complaining. I'm calling you a bumbling idiot, idiot."

"You're not much better than me, sweetheart," he grumbled in reply before wishing he could take it back upon seeing Ino's blue eyes blink in the darkness. Trying not to curse, he went back to watching without saying another word, silently cursing himself and his habit of attaching terms of endearment to cutting remarks directed towards women he wasn't supposed to like. They both went silent again, this time the air more strained with a tension they could feel. Damnit, why couldn't he say anything?! He could have at least apologized, maybe, for wanting to molest her right there on the dance floor. Maybe if he at least admitted it, she could shoot him down, and end his agony right then and there, without tormenting him any further . . .

Too bad Genma wasn't that brave, though, when it came to women, especially when he didn't have that much alcohol in his system.

So he sat there like the idiot she called him, trying not to think about almost kissing her twice in one day, and certainly not about how good she'd look out of that skinny, curve-hugging dress. He looked back through the binoculars, just barely catching himself staring. Concentrating fully on watching an almost reenactment of the previous night, but on a different victim, he didn't notice Ino sliding closer next to him until her thigh brushed the outside of his. Genma went very still, especially when the kunoichi leaned onto his shoulder, shivering slightly. She rubbed her gloved hands together, huddled under her coat. "Cold?" he asked, his voice sounding oddly choked.

The blonde nodded and he gently put one hand over hers, rubbing the back of her palms with his thumb as she gripped his fingers. Genma couldn't avoid looking in her blue eyes, the darkness making them appear bigger than he remembered. She smiled at him, making him gulp. "Better?" he asked, swallowing down multiple lumps.

"Much, thank you . . . Think we can stay like this? I get cold easily?"

"Poor circulation?"

"It's a curse."

Neither of them moved, leaning on each other while hand in hand. Both pairs of eyes turned away from each other, back towards the windows. "Do you think something will happen?" Ino asked after a long moment.

"We won't know 'til it does."

"We could be waiting forever."

"Don't worry. I'll keep you warm."

* * *

There was something distinctly perverse about what they were doing. The way they both worked quietly, avoiding the other unless they had no other choice, made this all the more evident. The first order of business was to get Minagawa Hiro off of the covers, which they worked together on. She then divested the sleeping man of his red robe, tossing it onto the floor to leave him naked before pulling the sheets on top of him. The second part was the genjutsu, which was also the second hardest thing for her to do that night. Without having to even ask, Kakashi brought one of the plush armchairs in from the living room for her to sit on before he disappeared. Well, not really disappeared. She just needed enough privacy to get this over with, which he freely gave her, no doubt making himself at home in Hiro's kitchen.

Eyes closed, Sakura performed the few seals required, then let the chakra flow from her into the man's slumbering body. Unlike the last time she tried to perform illusionary techniques on him, she knew instantly this time when it took, inhaling sharply at the connection. Fifteen minutes later it was done, and this time she ignored looking and listening to the man to concentrate on the jutsu. When she opened her eyes again and saw Hiro sprawled all over the bed, the guilt didn't flood her emotions, unlike the time before. Then again, performing it on Kakashi was a world of difference, and it wasn't just the differences in the illusions she fed them. The thought made her blush slightly until she pushed it away.

Slowly, she rose to her feet and walked around the bed. Her hand gripped the sheet that had fallen away during the jutsu, and she covered him up again, ignoring how he rolled toward her in his drug-induced slumber. Rolling her eyes, Sakura walked over to the bedroom door, opening it a crack, then turning on her heel to go into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her, breathing deeply on the other side. It was almost over. Just one night and one morning's performance and their little plan would come to fruition.

Footsteps echoed on the floor in the bedroom and she knew it was Kakashi, which made her exhale in relief. He rapped on the door softly. "Sakura?"

"I'm fine," she said with a smile to herself. "It's done."

There was a long pause on the other side before he asked, "What are you doing in there then?"

"I just want to wash my hands. I'll be out soon."

She heard him pause again, and she knew that he thought she must be doing something while emotionally distraught, even if she did sound fine. The kunoichi start to growl, "I said I was-"

"Take your time, Sakura-chan. I'll just be dressing the room."

He moved away from the door with a thud of his heavy shoes and she exhaled agitatedly while shaking her head. Later, when this was all over, she would have a nice long chat with him, and she could only hope it would fix whatever was starting to become unglued between them. Yet, no matter how much her rational mind stressed the importance of fixing their friendship, the irrational part of her, the one that had convinced her to drug him and trick him along with very dirtily dancing with him in the club not too long ago, couldn't let go that easily of everything that had happened. No matter what she did, she couldn't let herself just easily forget, not the way he looked at her lately, or the way he smiled, or the way he . . .

Sakura pushed away from the door and started the water in the white porcelain sink. She put her hands under the spray and started to wash them, even if there was no dirt there. Wringing them, her palms didn't feel clean, no matter how much she tried. Giving up, she stopped the water and dried her hands with a nearby white towel. Who was she kidding? Kakashi wasn't the one becoming unglued, she was. With dawning realization, she knew something had changed within her in regards to him. Why else would she do what she did to him? Why else would she suddenly be jealous over him looking at Takara? Why else would she so doggedly try to prove her worth to him after he saved her life? Why would she make him think they had slept together? Why would she do all that to get him to notice her?

As soon as the thought occurred to her that it was more than just friendship at work between them, she banished it. No, it was impossible. She couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to fall for Kakashi or any other man, not again. She wasn't attracted to him . . . at least not when he acted like his normal self. Biting her lip hard enough to nearly draw blood, Sakura whined in worry. Ok, so what if some deeply-concealed part of her did enjoy watching him last night fallen under the genjutsu, or taking his clothes off, or waking up with his warm hands on her, or feeling him pressed against her with his lips so close to–

It didn't mean anything! None of it meant anything . . . except that sleeping with him wasn't something completely unwanted . . .

She would not freak out over this like an academy student did over cooties!

Swaying and pacing, the biting to her lip became nibbling while she tried to think rationally about what to do. How could she act normally around him now? One touch and she would burn up like a candle. He didn't already suspect something, did he? Kakashi only wanted to be friends! It was what he had said so long ago: "Everything I feel for you is out of friendship," right? Could he change his mind? What if he did change his mind?! The closer she came to truly panicking, the swifter her pace became before she came to a dead halt, turning to face the mirror while braced over the sink on one hand.

She looked at her reflection, talking calmly to herself. "I am not crazy . . . And even if he isn't that bad to look at, I do not–"

Her words got cut off by her own sigh before she could finish that thought. Sakura stood up straight and covered her face with her hands. She did not love Kakashi. She was simply not as adverse to becoming 'friends with benefits' as she thought. That seemed like logic enough to the kunoichi to calm her frazzled nerves. Simple lust was something she could deal with, mostly by avoiding him. It would go away eventually, wouldn't it? It wasn't like she was near him day in and day out, with nowhere else to go . . . Oh wait, she was. She sighed again, this time in misery. At least for one night she wouldn't have to deal with the Copy Nin's constant presence. If something happened, she would deal with it, right?

He was just Kakashi after all.

She opened the door and walked out into the bedroom, seeing him just as he dropped a wad of rubbery looking plastic into a small waste bin by one of the night stands. Sakura paled, knowing exactly what it was he had dropped. "I take it those are . . ."

"Three well-used condoms, same brand he uses," he replied, impassive. "I left the foils on the nightstand for him to find, and took three out of his stash. There should be enough lubricant on them and on the sheets to explain what happened."

Her eyebrows rose up to see the foil packages on the nightstand, scattered beside a bottle of lubricant that was no doubt from Hiro's personal stash as well. The levels of red wine in the two glasses had changed as well, no doubt both refilled from another bottle by Kakashi in her absence. The new green and golden foil-wrapped bottle was set beside her glass, just as they had planned. The moon had shifted in the sky, leaving one half of the bedroom in shadows. She walked around towards the empty side of the bed and sat down while taking it all in. Clothes on the floor, wine out and poured, messy sheets, condoms, lubricant, one naked man, and a well-planned genjutsu locked safe in the memory of their victim: it was a recipe for scandal all right. Who would not believe it?

Sakura breathed deeply, yet patted the bed nervously, purposefully not looking at the ninja as he drifted back into the shadow. "Everything should be set. I'll see you in the morning," he said.

Her head turned towards the sound of his voice, not seeing him in the darkness, except for the slight highlights of silvery hair. "Wait."

"What is it?"

". . . What about Takara?" she asked, the hesitation betraying her nervousness.

Kakashi didn't sigh, even if he felt like it. After all that had happened that night, she had to choose right then to get a case of nervousness. "Relax," he ordered, "she will be here in the morning. I don't have a single doubt about that."

She shook her head, grumbling, "That's easy for you to say."

He frowned. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing, just nerves . . . It'll go away soon enough . . ." Sakura tried to excuse herself unconvincingly. "Anything else I need to do before morning?"

The question made the Copy Nin shift on his feet, shoving gloved hands into the pockets of the dark coat he still wore. He'd been meaning to bring it up with her again since that morning, but they had been purposefully avoiding the subject of what had happened, as if it had never happened in the first place. Only, it had happened, and it had exposed one glaring flaw in their otherwise brilliant plan. And the only problem with that was that bringing up anything remotely sexual with her anymore was about as easy for him to do as telling her how he really felt. The comfort he thought he had around her was gone, leaving him as tongue-tied on the subject as he was at eleven years old. What the hell was wrong with him? He still hadn't figured out the answer to that question, only that both the cause and solution involved her.

Kakashi turned away from her, staring off into the room while scratching his hair in distraction. "There is one thing . . ."

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"Well . . ." he trailed off, trying to figure out how to say it without blurting the entire thing insensitively. "Just what I said this morning about how I noticed you hadn't actually . . . Well, you know how horrible someone looks after . . . What I'm trying to say is . . ."

The kunoichi's mouth twitched into a smirk as her eyes narrowed. "You mean how you claimed this morning that you could tell we hadn't had sex because I looked too clean."

"Yeah, that," Kakashi said with an agreeing nod before coughing in distraction, then continuing. "You may be want to um . . . masturbate-or-something-to-make-sure-it-looks-real."

He winced. Well, that was certainly smooth, but it did get his point across.

Sakura did a double take towards him, her mouth dropped open in shock. He could not be serious! . . . Could he? Well, he was nothing else if not serious about missions, so he had to be completely serious. A deep red blush spread across her face and down her neck, a mix of embarrassment and fury directed at him. "Are you nuts?!" she hissed, trying to keep from screaming at him. "You really are a perv if you think I'm about to do that here, and certainly not with you around!"

His dark eye narrowed on her. "I wasn't about to suggest that you perform for an audience. I'll leave soon enough, of course, but how else do you plan to solve this problem?"

Huffing, Sakura crossed her arms and pointedly ignored him. "I'll just build up a sweat. That should be good enough."

"It won't work."

"What?! Why not?!"

"There is a difference, Sakura . . . I thought you'd know that?" he questioned her, growing more suspicious as she sat there. She was very still, staring out the window without another word. His pale eyebrow arched more and more as the silent moments ticked by. So she did not know the difference after all despite supposedly sleeping at least once with three different young men? What piece of knowledge of the kunoichi's sexual history was he missing?

Kakashi began to wonder at that as he tried to explain: "Hiro isn't dumb, remember? Inept, certainly, but not dumb . . . He may buy Takara's fake climaxes, but then again, he would know that he had sex with her too, and wouldn't be relying on just his memory. The most obvious evidence missing would be the scent, which was missing this morning. There's also a noticeable difference in someone that's had sexual fulfillment, and someone that hasn't, not just in the way they look, but in how they act as well. I should not have to delve into the topic of body language with you. He will know if you're this uptight by morning still, which is why I suggested what I did."

Sakura didn't move except to give one short nod, not daring to look up at him as her eyes drifted over the floor. The ninja's eye narrowed onto her the longer and longer she stayed silent. "Is there a problem I should know about?" he asked.

For a moment, he thought she winced, but no, she had not. Instead, Sakura's back went perfectly straight as she slowly shook her head. "No, not too much of a problem . . ."

He didn't believe her for a moment, but she didn't say anything beyond that either. Still, his growing confusion and frustration with the kunoichi made him start to stomp away to let her deal with her own dilemma when the next words out of her mouth stopped him dead in his tracks. "I've never had an orgasm."

Kakashi blinked, thought about it a moment, and then blinked again. She had never . . .

What?! Was he sure he had heard her right?!

It sounded like she had just said that she had never had an orgasm, but with everything that had happened that day, he could never be sure enough. In fact, he was pretty sure that one sentence had imploded the remains of his sense of what was really real, along with his sanity.

Sakura had never had a climax? Beautiful, nubile, charming, sexy, yet still surprisingly innocent-looking Sakura, whom he knew had lost her virginity, never had a climax? If her word was absolute, that meant masturbation didn't even get her off, either. Now that had to be a complete lie, didn't it? The whole idea was almost beyond belief, but just almost.

Slowly, he turned around, staring at the now frightfully still kunoichi with mounting fascination. Either she was toying with him or completely serious. "What did you just say?" he asked, moving back, deeper into the shadows of the room.

"You know what I said," she hissed under her breath with more than a hint of nervousness. "Don't make me repeat it."

"My ears have been known to trick me before, so I just want to be sure."

"Kakashi . . ."

"Did you or did you not say you have never had an . . .?" He couldn't finish the question as just the thought made his fingers twitch.

"I did," she admitted, visibly swallowing a lump in her throat. "I've never had an orgasm."

"Not even from . . ."

"I am not telling you that!" she yelled at him, almost hyperventilating.

Even from across the room, he could see her pulse and breathing increase, along with the flush on her skin as she sat in the moonlight. With the knowledge she just dropped on him, it wasn't hard to imagine why. This could be a problem for them both . . . But how did he know she wasn't lying? That very morning, she tried to convince him that they had slept together. That evening, she seemed to want to genuinely throw herself at him on the dance floor, except that it was all an act for the man sleeping on the other half of a very large bed. She had to know what she was doing to him. How could she not know? Bitterness welled up in Kakashi as his gloved hand tightened into a fist inside his coat pocket. "Are you toying with me?"

Her head whipped towards him in the shadows, clearly shocked at his allegation. Slowly though, she turned away and looked back towards the window, her head lowered. "I wouldn't toy with something as serious as this. You know that. How could you think I would?"

"You've been doing it to me ever since last night, Sakura. What am I to think?"

She cringed, her expression turning from nervousness to guilt. "So you are angry about that . . . Why did you pretend then to let it go?"

"Because I thought it truly was let go and forgotten. Why did you do it in the first place?"

"Because I wanted to prove myself to you."

"That isn't it, and you know it," Kakashi growled as she sighed and hunched over while hugging her stomach. "Why did you toy with me earlier tonight, then?"

"I did them both so that you'd notice me! Is that the confession you wanted to hear?!" she yelled while rising up slightly from the bed, glaring at where she thought he was standing. "I may be a shinobi, but I am still a woman too! I wanted you to notice that! I wanted you to stop pretending I was either one or the other, but never both! You stare at me and then pretend that I don't notice! You say you care but still keep secrets from me! You . . . I . . ."

The angry rant went out of her with an exhale as she sat back down and turned away again. She didn't raise her eyes from the floor. "I was being selfish. I didn't think . . . I said I was sorry, and I meant it."

Standing there, Kakashi let her words finally sink in. So that was how she felt. She wasn't lying either, which made his fist loosen up, but also made his fingers twitch anew. A small smile graced his lips under the mask. How could she assume he did not notice her? Yet, it still didn't answer how she could not . . . The answer came to him as he winced in memory. How could he forget? "That afternoon, when we were watching Takara and Hiro in this very apartment, you didn't know that she was faking it because you'd never experienced a real climax."

Sakura sat up straight again, still blushing vividly. "Yes."

Kakashi stiffened, trying not to shift on his feet as he asked, "With Kiba?"

She blinked at the interrogating tone to his voice, ignoring the spark of heat she felt at the sound. With a glance into the shadows, she didn't see him except for the hair, and even then she couldn't possibly know what he was thinking with the mask covering his features. As she tried to watch, she heard the sound of his longcoat being shrugged off and dropping over the dark armchair. He then moved to take a seat, and she knew he was watching her, even if she could not see him clearly.

The blush spread over her body until she almost glowed pink. "We did sleep together, but I never came, even if he did before passing out and slobbering all over me. It was horrible enough for me to want to forget, with how he kept howling."

"You never told him?"

"I didn't want him to try to 'make it up to me'," she said with a smirk. "The rumors afterwards were punishment enough."

"With Lee?" Kakashi asked.

She cringed, shuffling her booted feet on the floor. Her mouth quirked to the side while her eyebrows rose up in amusement as she said, "He was so excited that he kept coming early. At the time, I really wanted to, but he had no control. Even the next day, he couldn't relax enough to make it last long enough. It just felt so wrong even kissing him, so I gave up."

"And with Naruto?"

Her face darkened and her eyes closed as she let out a soft sigh.

"He tried his hardest. He really did. It was fine until . . ." Sakura paused, shivering at the memory. "It hurt so much the first time that I panicked. It felt like being stabbed with a kunai in a place that felt horrible to be in pain, and there was blood . . . It was horrible, and I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed and threw him off before he could finish. He tried to apologize for hurting me, and I thought he'd swear off women forever because of me. He didn't stay the rest of the night or try again. Kissing him never felt right from the start, either. Afterwards, it wasn't the same between us, even if we thought we still loved each other . . . I guess it wasn't love."

He let her answers sink in, watching as she glanced now and then at his chair. On the one hand, the Copy Nin wanted to not only wring the neck of his loud-mouthed, hyperactive, knuckleheaded ex-student, but also beat common sense into Gai's clone and a certain dog-boy more than ever. Even his teenage experiences with women weren't that bad! On the other hand, though, it explained all that he had wanted to know about the woman on the bed but never had the courage to ask. In fact, everything he had learned about Sakura over the course of this mission was more than he felt he deserved to know. The more he knew about her, the more he felt the tightness in his chest clench over his heart. Willing that feeling away wasn't working anymore. Her foot kicked at the wooden floor as she bit her lip, and Kakashi sunk deeper into the chair.

At that point, he should have left. He should have just let her deal with her issues and solve the problem on her own, but he didn't. No, he couldn't leave, not even if every sense of propriety regarding their relationship screamed at him to leave before he did something he shouldn't. How could he leave her sitting there, blushing like an inferno, glancing towards him with those curious eyes of hers, biting her lips, and fidgeting with expectation? The temptation was too great not to do anything.

"So you have masturbated before?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura's lips quivered as her eyes widened in shock at his question. "You can't expect me to answer–"

"If you answer, I'll believe you. If you don't . . ."

If she didn't answer, then she was a liar. Her blush deepened. "Yes, I have, but I've never . . . I've never reached a climax from it."

"Why not?"

"I don't know why. I can't seem to relax enough for it to get anywhere. I feel so frustrated even trying. I get tired and stop before it even has a chance of happening. After two failed attempts at intimacy with two guys I thought I really loved, I gave up thinking there was more. After Lee, I thought it was enough, that sense of relief when it was over. I honestly thought that was all there was to sex for women until I talked to Hinata, and she described what was like with Naruto," Sakura said, sounding a little bitter.

"How did Hinata describe it?"

"She said it was the closest she ever felt to dying, drowning," Sakura explained in a breathless tone. "She said she felt so tired and so tightly wound that she would shatter under him, like an explosion. When it happened, she said it felt like a flood inside her had been released and all she could do was hold on. She said it wasn't perfect, but dirty, and wonderful an–"

Sakura cut herself off, closing her eyes again with a regretful sigh. "She said I probably had no idea what I was missing. She didn't know how right she was."

"When did you talk to her about this?"

"It was before my twenty-first birthday, which is why I did what I did with Kiba. I thought if I could relax enough and find one guy to do the job without any emotional attachment this time around . . . I thought it would work," Sakura confessed, shaking her head.

Silence filled the air between them for a long moment.

"Drop the henge."

She did as Kakashi asked without any indecision or question, the dark hair turning back into a flow of strawberry-pink down her back, tinted by the moonlight. Looking over towards him with green eyes, she reached to the back of her head and pulled the knot tying it back loose. Sakura heard him stand up from the chair, but couldn't see exactly where he was in the darkness. Her spine tingled in anticipation, making her jump when he closed one set of the blinds, causing the room to become even darker.

"Take off your clothes."

She gasped, goose bumps rising up along her forearms at not just what he said to her, but how he said it. It wasn't a request, but an order; not the type he would shout at her in the middle of battle, but the authoritative kind that would compel her to act, even if she didn't want to. Looking into the darkness, she could see his faint outline watching her. Shaking slightly, Sakura looked dead ahead and out the remaining open windows, struggling with what I do. "I don't know if I–"

"If you don't, I will leave you to solve this problem on your own. Do you want my help or not, Sakura?"

"Yes," she breathed out, pulse racing.

"Then take off your clothes."

Hesitantly, she reached for the top of the left thigh boot, tugging on the laces. Kakashi watched as she stretched out her leg, pulling the dark cords slowly at first, then faster the closer she got to her heel. Finished, she kicked it off, then started on its mate. Before long, both of them clunked on the floor around the bed. Sakura stood up, trying not to wobble on her bare feet or show any signs of nervousness by glancing his way again. Her thumbs hooked into the bottom of her borrowed black shirt, twisting it up and over her head with crossed arms. The garment fell from her outstretched hand to the floor at the end of the bed. For a moment, she looked at him in the shadows and paused.

She didn't look away this time as she grasped the bottom of the bandages rolled over her breasts, untucking and unrolling them. Gradually, she looked down at her hands and the ground. Carefully, she unspooled the tight, white cotton lengths one layer at a time, shoving them down her torso and into a loosely wound pile at her feet. Her fingers then reached for the belt around her waist, undoing the buckle followed by the top button of the shorts. Kakashi stiffened as he heard the metallic ring of the fly zipper being pulled open, watching intently as she pushed them slowly down her hips. The synthetic leather stuck to her skin, needing to be carefully peeled downwards until it reached her knees and simply fell the rest of the way before being kicked to the side.

Sakura stood there in the starlight like a statue, stealing glances from the corner of her eyes at the man she knew was watching her. The tips of her fingers tangled in the pink waves flowing over her shoulder, drawing her hand downwards over her breast and stomach before stopping at her simple, white panties.

He would have expected her to wear black underwear, but the sight of tiny panties of brilliant snow white made him shift on his feet without the forethought to stop himself. Continuing to stare at her, Kakashi could feel another impending implosion in his mind, as if the blood rushing from there into his lower extremities would cause what little rational thought he had left to cave in. He blinked for a moment with a slight shake to his head, trying to disbelieve what he saw, but to no avail. This time it wasn't genjutsu, or a rampant daydream, or even his wildest wet dreams. She really was standing there naked, and in nearly virginal white underwear too, stripped just because he asked, and all while he seriously considered doing what he learned three men had attempted before and failed.

Sakura.

Everything about her that night would be ingrained in his subconscious now, never to be forgotten. He knew that as clearly as he knew that he would never get another chance like this again. As much as it conflicted with every sense of the word 'friendship', Kakashi took a small step closer towards her, emerging from the shadows.

Her chin rose proudly as she stared straight ahead instead of at him, fingers sliding under the white cloth. "Stop," he ordered, just as one side of the garment was nudged off her hip. "That's enough."

Sakura's eyes held his as he walked forward towards her, out of the darkness, lifting his eye patch and throwing it off to the side as he went. Her feet stayed rooted to the floor as he stood over her, even if every shred of common sense she had left proclaimed loudly that this was the stupidest thing she could do. Kakashi lifted his hand to his mask, hooking a finger on the edge to pull it down yet he stopped when she raised her hands as well. His eyes closed as she tentatively grasped the edges of the mask, feeling the rough and smooth skin underneath as she relieved one glimpse of his face at a time. When the cloth dropped to his neck, the ninja opened his eyes again. Even if she'd seen his visage many times before over the past few weeks, Sakura stared up at him with a sense of wonderment in her celadon eyes, darkened only by the shadow he cast just by standing over her.

He held her cheek in his right palm, running the pad of his thumb down the side of her nose, over slight laugh lines, and finally to her lips. Slowly, Kakashi started to bend down, freezing when she gasped, "Don't–"

The warning made him pause as much as the tinge of fear in her eyes. "Don't kiss me. If you do . . ." Sakura trailed off.

The shinobi's mind finished the sentence for her. If he did kiss her, then this whole experience would actually mean something the morning after.

She backed up slightly and sat down on the bed with her legs parted a little, still staring up at him. Kakashi slowly sunk down as well, putting one knee on the mattress while leaning over her. As he came closer to her, Sakura leaned back almost the same distance until she was nearly lying down. His hand grabbed a fistful of long pink hair before she could lay flat on the bed, holding her still. She gasped again and shivered as the Copy Nin rested on his elbows over her, feeling his breath on her burning skin. She bit her lip to keep from making a sound as she felt him press against her, but couldn't stop herself as his mouth came closer to hers. "Don't–"

She held her breath, so sure that he meant to kiss her, but he didn't.

No, he didn't kiss her, but the effect was all the same as his lips brushed the corner of her mouth. Sakura's eyes squinted shut and her body arched as she silently wished he had kissed her after all. The hand in her hair let go to curl under her neck as he kissed over her cheek, ear, jaw, then down her neck with a hunger as if he meant to devour her. She twisted under Kakashi's weight, breathing in his scent as her hands clung to the back of his dark clothes. His hand grasped her breast, massaging it as she moaned at the rough texture of his fingerless gloves. Teeth nipped at her throat with a slight growl in his voice. Sakura bit back, yanking the fallen mask out of way to get at what she wanted. Her bare skin burned and tingled at the harsh feel of his clothing, yet she couldn't get enough of it, squirming against him for more. The kunoichi's hips ground into his, legs wrapping over the back of his thighs.

Kakashi's grip tightened over her breast, teasing a taut nipple with his thumb. Her skin tasted as sweet and salty as he had imagined, with the scent of plum blossoms overpowering the cherries. His other hand unwound from her neck, pinning down her shoulder as she wiggled under him. Every time she did that, it drove him madder with want for her, creating havoc for the control he coveted so much. After this, he knew getting Sakura out of his system would be impossible, just as part of him knew he wouldn't want that, anyway. How could he not want her? Sweat poured over her flesh as she moaned and moved under him. His tongue licked over the hollow of her neck while hearing a whimpered version of his name reverberating in her throat. "Kakashi . . ."

He stopped and tried to straighten up again, becoming too heated to still be wearing winter clothes. Sakura still clung to him when he sat back on his heels, her hands insistently tugging on his sweater and shirt underneath. Cursing under his breath, the ninja peeled the metal-backed, fingerless gloves off with his teeth, throwing them away as she giggled. Her mouth didn't let up, kissing every piece of skin she could expose except for his lips while her hands tugged the layers he wore further upwards.

The black sweater passed over his head one moment to be thrown aside the next. His shirt and attached mask followed next, taking longer to peel off as Sakura's hand shot up underneath it to paw at his chest. He hissed at the scratch of nails raking his warm skin. As soon as the garment hit the floor, he pulled the kunoichi into his lap, holding her hips directly over his as she gasped.

She didn't move upon feeling the hardness in his pants, suddenly a small bit afraid while excited at the same time, wondering how far they both were willing to go. Kakashi didn't move either except to lower his head to her neck, brushing his lips on her skin. He could feel her fear mounting in a tremor running over her back when his hand caressed down her spine. So she wasn't willing to go that far just yet, not that he could blame her. Just hearing her moaning his name could be enough, the Copy Nin supposed, for now at least.

His hand slid down the back of Sakura's white panties, groping a piece of ass that made her jolt in his arms with a squeak. Those nails dug into his shoulders as she attempted to strangle a moan while shuddering. "This doesn't count towards our little bet, you know," Kakashi whispered, enjoying watching her beautiful face contort first in confusion, then desire, at his ministrations.

Sakura moaned in agreement, a little surprised that her voice still worked. "Of course not."

"Because you certainly aren't enjoying this," he chuckled as her body rubbed against his.

"And you're enjoying this too much," Sakura whispered in a sultry voice, the tips of her fingers drifting over the material of his pants. Kakashi grabbed her hand before she could grope him, twisting her arm until the limb was pinned behind her back. Letting her go that far was too much of what he couldn't handle. "No."

She pouted in disappointment until he roughly held her body against his, nearly squeaking instead. He shifted one of her legs over his waist and pushed them both back down towards the mattress. If she minded being handled, the way she continued to wiggle under him didn't say it. His hands moved in opposite directions, one going up her thigh and over her hip as its mate curled around her back, releasing his hold on her wrist. The ninja licked up the side of her neck and she twisted, fighting under him with her eyes closed. She tried to be silent, but how in the world was that possible with one of his hands getting closer and closer to being shoved down her panties? After fours years and three failed sexual experiences, foreplay with her partner and ex-sensei wasn't supposed to feel this good . . . but it did. Was this what Hinata kept talking about? It certainly didn't feel like anything close to an explosion yet, just frustration at being teased and aggravation at the heat.

The hand she thought would finally touch her moved over the inside of her legs instead, skimming the elastic edges of her panties. Her hips bucked upwards in frustration, sweat pouring all over as the Copy Nin chuckled at her helplessness. "Patience, I know what I'm doing."

Right, like he could really remember after ten years of not touching a woman? For a moment, her eyes threatened to roll until that finger edged closer to where she wanted to be touched. Well, he must have remembered enough to get them this far.

She sagged back down into the bed, not liking how calm and collected he sounded for being as hot and bothered as she was. He kissed her neck and she turned her head away, moaning at a light touch over her center through her underwear.

Kakashi grinned down at her mixed reaction as she tried to be angry at him when she was obviously enthralled. For a moment, he looked up momentarily to see Hiro's prone body snoring away on the opposite side of the bed, oblivious to the world. The sight not only reminded him that they were still on a mission, but that this had to be one of his weirdest sexual experiences where he was sober enough to remember everything. Sakura moaned loudly one moment, then swallowed it the next, as his focus returned while his grin widened. It was also turning into one of the more erotic sexual experiences he's had as well.

The way she tried to be quiet, even as he felt her up through her damp panties, turned him on even more. All those sounds she made, equal parts frustration and pleasure, kept his undivided attention focused on her while his mouth tasted whatever part of her was nearby. She writhed under Kakashi, eyes closed and mouth open, pushing herself more onto his hand in growing need. Her hands had stopped trying to touch him, settling instead to simply hold on as he stroked the folds of her mound. Sakura could feel it tightening in the pit of her stomach with each touch, part pleasure and part agony. When? When would it happen? How she wished it would be soon. Her lungs burned, her voice creaked, her muscles ached, and while it felt extremely good, was it enough? She tossed on the bed, unsure if it was enough or not, just that something wasn't working. "Take them off," she whispered between pants. "Please . . . just touch me."

The Copy Nin looked at her in confusion for a moment, then grabbed the fabric. What she wanted, she got, not that he would complain about taking off her panties one bit. He backed off a moment, lifting her legs and pulling the underwear down in one swoop. The garment joined the pile around the bed without another thought. Kakashi paused as her thighs parted to encircle around his hips again, staring at the thin, light pink hair over reddened skin. It had been too long since seeing that part of a woman rendered in anything but ink. Her hands caressed his neck, then yanked his hair until he stopped staring and looked up at her. The anxiousness was clear in the green of her eyes, along with a touch of worry. Bent over Sakura's body again, he kissed from the side of her face to her burning ear, whispering to her, "Relax."

"That's easy for you to say," she grumbled with surprising clarity. His hand moved down the inside of her thigh again, and the kunoichi genuinely tried to let go of her other emotions, focusing on the feeling of skin on skin. She inhaled sharply as he touched her, rubbing with the palm of his hand up and down in a steady motion. Relax he said? When he did things like that to her? She gasped for air again when a finger parted the delicate skin, sliding into the wetness with ease. Her hips unconsciously bucked against the intrusion, not exactly trying to relax as he'd said. Kakashi shifted partially off of her body, curling up against her side as his finger moved in and out of her.

Sakura panted, scratching over his back and arms to vent her frustration. It didn't feel any different; good, but not better. It was supposed to feel better! This was taking too long, wasn't it? Well, ok, it definitely felt better than her past three attempts, but it still wasn't working. What was she missing?! Maybe she never would be able to come! If it wasn't for the continuing feeling of pleasure radiating from her center, she might have believed that thought. All she did know was that relaxing wasn't working.

"Kakashi . . ." she moaned, trying not to panic while he down bent to kiss her breast. His mismatched eyes glanced up at her, knowing something wasn't right from the way she looked. His hand stopped a moment at seeing the disappointment. This was a problem, since his hands usually worked wonders, or at least they had ten years ago. He could not be that rusty at this. The Copy Nin kissed her cheek, nuzzling her ear and hair as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know . . ." she sighed, squirming against him. "I wish this was working . . ."

"Tell me what you want, Sakura."

"I don't know! I haven't exactly done this before!"

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. To make it worse, he could see the anxiousness written on her face. This was a definite problem, and the only answer he could come up with aside from communication was actual demonstration, after she'd settled down first. His lips quirked, stuck somewhere between a smirk and a frown. "First, you're in too much of a hurry to get to a finish."

Sakura snorted, bucking under him. "I wouldn't be in a hurry if you weren't taking your–"

The finger within her curled for a moment, and her words were cut off as she let out a shuddered gasp. She sagged down again, growling at him. "Sadist."

"Good things come if you're patient."

She closed her eyes, letting go of the anger and a little bit of the tension that had been humming through her. Shifting on the bed, she settled down. "Ok, but this still doesn't feel right."

"Well, if something isn't right," Kakashi kissed just under her earlobe, "then show me."

The fires under her skin that she thought were dying out blazed anew. "W-what?!"

Yet, all the response she got from the ninja was a continuation of his wicked grinning. He was asking her to do that?! The kunoichi blushed deep crimson, as if her complexion wasn't red enough already. The ninja kissed near the corner of her mouth again, still grinning. "This isn't the time to go all shy on me, Sakura."

Her blush started to turn slightly purplish as she held her breath before letting it out with a hiss. There was something irresistible in that tone of voice he used. Why did he have to choose that night to use it on her? If he'd used that compelling sound when she was younger, she might have followed him to the ends of the world. Even now, his persuasiveness was making her do things she'd never done before, and with him. She'd already given in to her desires by letting things get this far, what harm could masturbating for him do? "Touch yourself," he whispered commandingly into her ear. "I want to see how beautiful you look doing that."

The surge of heat flushing her skin at least made her body believe he was sincere. Whether the flattery was just a lovely lie or not was irrelevant in that moment. So long as he kept talking like that, touching herself wouldn't even be needed to help her to get off. "Liar," she whispered harshly in return.

He only chuckled at her between nibbling on her earlobe.

Sakura shakily lifted her hand from his shoulder to slide her arm downwards between them as her pulse drummed in her ears. His hand moved out of the way, brushing over her skin instead. She could feel his hips pressed against the side of hers and the obvious bulge under all that straining fabric. Her green eyes closed, thinking too much about Kakashi and his pants when she shouldn't. She shouldn't have been thinking about his lips either, wondering what they tasted like while knowing that they were so close and kissable by the breath on her burning cheeks. "I haven't done this since . . . forever . . ." Sakura barely whispered.

"But you must have felt the need to?"

With a throaty sigh, she dug her hand into the hairs covering her center, rubbing the skin underneath. "Yes," she replied breathlessly. "Like an itch I wanted to scratch, but couldn't."

Lying beside her, Kakashi looked down the length of her body, rising up on one elbow to get a better view. Her fingers rubbed over the folds, made easier as her hips moved slowly in time. His hand lazily stroked up her forearm, then down again, until his palm covered the back of hers. "Show me what to do," he whispered, feeling the movements of her hand.

Sakura's face turned away from him, trying to hold down all the noise she made as the heel of her palm ground into her clit. A single finger slid into her sex, hooked to rub the upper walls of wet flesh while pumping in and out. His hand moved with hers, the tips of his fingers sliding over her knuckles as his thumb teased her wrist. The kunoichi's body shook with a marked difference that made him grin to himself. "I wasn't lying to you before," he whispered into her ear. "You are beautiful."

She moaned while only half paying attention to his words as her finger moved a little harder and faster. Her better senses still couldn't bring herself to truly believe that he meant it, but that didn't mean she disliked hearing it. Sakura smiled, her unoccupied hand pulling him close until she could nibble on his neck. "Is that so?" she asked, soundly slightly drunk.

"Of course, even when you're covered in sweat."

A low laugh crossed her lips, shattered by a moan as her hand moved over her center. The ninja licked the salt of her sweat off of her skin while sliding down her body. His mouth wrapped over a hardened nipple, rolling his tongue over it as she arched. "Kakashi."

The breathless utterance of his name made the blood in his veins jolt and his heart clench. How was he going to be able to explain this all away in the morning? Would he even want to? Pushing such troubling thoughts aside, his teeth nipped at her breast as he felt her hand rub hard over her folds. The cry Sakura made was close to music to his ears, in a dirty kind of way. He could tell just by hearing it that she had come closer to a finish than before, which meant he needed to move quickly. She gave a low moan while settling down again, but her panting remained quick.

The silver-haired man slid off the bed to his knees, kneeling between her legs while coming face-to-face with her hand as it moved within her. She gave a disappointed whine in the back of her throat as he moved until she felt his tongue lick the back of her finger. Instantly, her hips moved forward as the blush swept over her cheeks. Her breath caught in her throat as he pulled her hand away slightly, sucking on her finger with his head bent over her. Kakashi kissed her abdomen, moving lower with each brush of his lips. His hands grabbed her hips, first pulling her forcefully until she sat the edge of the bed, and then holding her down as she squirmed. He chuckled at the curious yet frustrated look in her green eyes when she propped herself up on her elbows, then nuzzled the damp pink hairs over her mound.

The chuckling stopped suddenly. "You haven't had this done to you before either, have you?" he asked before kissing down the outer lips.

Sakura whined nervously before smothering it, her legs shaking slightly as he gently lifted them over his shoulders. "N-no, no, I haven't . . ."

"Do you trust me?"

Her heart clenched and her blood raced as she answered. "Yes."

His nose breathed in her scent deeply upon hearing her words, trying not to let it get to his head. Of course she trusted him. They were friends, after all. Kakashi's tongue lapped at her opening, enjoying once more all the little noises she made while trying not to make any. His lips enveloped her engorged clit, making all those tiny sounds much louder in volume than before. Pulling back slightly, he grinned to himself with a mental pat on the back. At least his mouth wasn't rusty at this.

With a moan, Sakura flopped back on the bed. If he had done this from the start, she wouldn't have been so uptight or exhausted. Despite how tired she was, each lap of his mouth over her center made her move with a jolt of pleasure. Why hadn't she had anyone do this to her before? Maybe if she had, she wouldn't have been so miserable in the romance department. Yet, looking down between her legs, her mind couldn't imagine anyone else there except for Kakashi and his silvery mop of hair. "Shit," Sakura cursed as she tossed on the bed, trying to purge that thought in the waves of pleasure.

Her moans grew increasingly louder as he thrust his tongue inside her, lapping at the burning, slick flesh of her folds. Her hands grabbed the Copy Nin by his hair, massaging his scalp as much as she tried to yank the grey threads to keep him from moving away. Murderous thoughts went through her head at the very idea of him stopping now. Kakashi had better not stop, not when she could start to feel what Hinata had talked about. It felt like a great fire was burning within her, one that consumed her down to her soul, taking everything she gave. It didn't feel like her world would split apart like the opal-eyed woman had said, just that it would never be the same afterwards. Her hips ground upwards into his mouth, barely held back down by his hands as her thighs tried to close around his head. Sakura bit her lip hard to keep from screaming as he sucked on her clit again. It was so close that she could taste it in the air, thick and heavy enough that it made breathing utter turmoil.

With flick of his tongue, the tension within the kunoichi finally exploded, about the one thing Hinata's interpretation of an orgasm that she had gotten right. Sakura's body arched clear off the bed with a cry, twisting in the air and all over Kakashi as he tried to hold her down. Even in the dark room, white light blazed behind the lids of her squinted eyes, blinding her of everything but the rush coursing through her nerves. So that was what it was supposed to feel like? That was what she was missing? Coming back down from the high, a dazed smile crossed her lips as she crashed back down onto the bed. Her head rolled lazily to the side, moaning in a way that almost sounded like croaking, which probably wasn't sexy whatsoever. Not that she could care about appearing sexy at the moment. She felt much too relaxed and much too tired to do more than lie there limply.

So, if this was what an orgasm was supposed to feel like, it explained to Sakura why some of her friends with male companionship couldn't stop talking about it. It almost made her feel sorry for Pig, who hadn't lost her innocence yet, and was equally as clueless about good sex as she had been. As quickly as the thought of her best female friend crossed her mind, it went away just as soon, replaced with one other important person, Kakashi. Unconsciously, her body rolled over slightly on the bed, missing the feel of a warm, hard body lying beside her.

It felt weird to miss him when he was right there on the floor at her feet.

In actuality, the ninja felt miles away from her, trapped in his own mind as it twisted over and over what he had just done. The image of her on the dark bed, pale skin glowing in the sheen of sweat, conflicted with everything he knew. Every time he closed his eyes, he could still see her as she was to him, at twelve, at sixteen, at eighteen, at twenty-one, each time she was smiling, or angry with him, or sad. The Sakura he remembered didn't mesh with the image he saw on the bed, the one with questioning wonderment in her tired eyes. Yet, it looked so much like that look from earlier, when she looked up at him in wonder with those jade eyes. Remembering that particular glance of hers made his heart convulse strangely. If he hadn't been there to see it, he might not have believed it. For that moment, it looked like . . . like she loved him.

Love.

Just that one word jolted reality back into his system. What had they done? They should not have done this. He should not have allowed it to happen. She should have stopped him, but she didn't. Why didn't she stop him? Did she want him to? Did she want to be used? Did he use her or did this all mean something? Did it mean anything at all? Why didn't he stop himself? Why couldn't he stop himself even if he wanted to? But then again, he knew why he didn't stop along with why he wanted it to happen. That combination of answers was starting to scare the shit out of him since he knew in essence, all of what he felt could be boiled down to one thing.

Love.

Kakashi quickly shut that thought off before it could bear fruit. That was not a word he needed to think about right then and there as all it would do is get him in even deeper trouble. Right now, he needed to think, yet, all he could think about went back to her, and the more he thought about her, the more his denial kicked back. What had he done? He was supposed to be her friend and she was supposed to be his partner. Everything he did for was out of . . .

Love.

No, that wasn't it! Everything he did was out of friendship! . . . yet, that one innocuous word felt like a lie now more than ever. Slowly, he could feel his mind slipping sideways, getting stuck in that one repeating thought cycle with no end in sight. He was supposed to be her friend, but after what they had just done, it seemed impossible to go back . . . but did he really want to go back?

No, he knew with complete lucidity that he didn't really want to go back to just being her friend, but he would anyway if she wanted him to. But, in the event that they couldn't go back to how they were, then it only left one thing . . .

Love.

That word was really getting to him, and not in the way one would expect it to. Both propriety and denial struck him hard and at the same time for that realization. He shouldn't be there any more. He should leave. It was a sentiment that echoed in the walls of his head: to leave before he did more damage. If he stayed, then nothing could be undone. The thought picked up in his head, a chorus of voices chanting it to himself. Get up. Get dressed. Leave. Leave her alone. Don't look back. Just go. Well, go! Go, you idiot! Get up and go!

Yet, he felt stuck there like a fly tangled in a web, even if it was all in his head. He couldn't help it by looking into her eyes as he grew increasingly worried. Get up and go, you fool. Why wasn't he going? He had to leave. He had to, or else he'd never want to go. He knew he had to go, but he couldn't make himself get off the floor. Sakura smiled slightly, whispering his name in the darkness. "Kakashi?"

Well? What are you waiting for? Go!

With a slightly startled jump, the ninja staggered back to his feet. He didn't even look at her as he started to pick up his clothes, mumbling quickly, "I should go."

The pink-haired woman sat up immediately as her mouth dropped open, speechless. He was leaving? Now of all times? Was it something she said? Sakura could do little but watch as he pulled his shirt back on, then his sweater, followed by the gloves and his coat, before pulling his mask back up. He was closing himself off to her again. When she finally found her voice, all she could ask was one thing: "Why?"

"I'm sorry . . . It would be better if we left that topic for the morning."

Her anger exploded at the tone in his voice, which was dead flat. In the morning?! That was it?! He would just leave her there after what they did?! Didn't it mean anything to him?! Didn't she mean anything to him?! Sakura started to rise up from the bed, the greatest fury she'd ever felt towards him building in her right fist. Yet, the rage to hurt him died suddenly when he looked at her from across the room. She sunk back down onto the bed at the look in his dark, droopy eye, the black eye patch covering the Sharingan again. How could she be angry with the way he looked at her? Equal parts desire and regret were reflected in his one eye, along with something else that made a shiver run down her spine.

Suddenly, Sakura put her legs together while draping an arm across her breasts. Kakashi moved hesitantly back towards her. She jumped when he bent over at her feet, but relaxed again when he held up the black shirt towards her. It was the one she'd stolen from him. "You should cover up," he suggested, averting his eye, "and try to get some sleep if you can."

Taking the fabric carefully, she did just that by wrapping the knit fabric over her torso. She looked away as well, sitting there in the silence of her own thoughts until she heard him walk across the floor towards the bedroom door. Her eyes followed him as he stopped, putting one gloved hand on the door frame. He glanced at her over his shoulder for a moment, but quickly turned away as he muttered, "Good night, Sakura. I'll . . . I'll see you in the morning."

Kakashi turned the corner and was gone. The apartment door opened, closed, and then she knew he was truly gone. She clung to the midnight-colored material, curling up on herself. Now that he wasn't there, all she was left with was her thoughts. In all honesty, Sakura didn't know what to think about Kakashi or anything else. One moment, the world seemed perfect, and in the next, it had been swept out from under her. Why would he look at her so . . . torn? She didn't know, but it started to tear at her as well. They shouldn't have done that. It was a mistake. It was all a big mistake; it had to be for him to act like he couldn't even look at her.

Shame sunk in as she buried her face in the neck of the shirt. She didn't want to look at herself either. What had they done? What had she been thinking!? How would she ever be able to be his partner, let alone his friend now?! How could she look in him the eye again without–

The shame hit deeper and with a tinge of regret. She would never be able to look at him without feeling those same things all over again. The itch she couldn't scratch still wasn't gone, only now it felt worse. Her nose nudged the shirt, almost swearing she could still smell him on it. Sakura turned on the bed and lay down, still clutching the dark garment to her face, to the point of almost smothering herself. Her body stayed curled in a ball, naked and alone, oblivious to the other unconscious occupant of the oversized bed, just as he was oblivious to everything. Things would be better in the morning, she reassured herself; they were always better in the morning, after some sleep. She couldn't lose her focus now. All she had to do was get through tomorrow morning, and everything would be better. Maybe she'd even be able to go home, a place where she wouldn't need to see Kakashi everyday, except for in a photograph.

Her fingers tightened over the shirt, knowing she'd never sleep that night.

She was a kunoichi of the Leaf. Her life had been filled with difficulties that far surpassed this. Comparatively, being without him should be easy, yet it felt so much harder than she'd ever imagined. Sakura's eyes slid closed, willing herself into a sleep that would never come. She just had to get through one night without him, and that was it. Sighing, she sniffed at the shirt, knowing it was his scent she smelled as she muttered, "Just one night."

* * *

Kakashi's feet froze as soon as the door closed with a resounding thud. Almost immediately, the regret set in as the conflict in his head got even worse. He shouldn't have left her like that. He shouldn't have left, period. Unconsciously, he turned around and put his hand on the door knob to go back before stopping himself and ripping his hand away. The ninja cursed under his breath as he started to walk away. "Damnit!"

He ruffled his already seriously messed-up hair even more as he turned again to pace back towards the apartment door before realizing it and turning again. This was about the last thing he needed, indecision, on top of all the other mounting problems. If they fucked up this mission, it wouldn't be because they had fucked up, but because they had fucked with each other. Why couldn't he just make up his damned mind about what he wanted? It should have been simple to figure out, but it was far from it. The only thing Kakashi did know as he looked at the door again is that he couldn't face Sakura, not when he wasn't sure anymore what to say or do.

His feet shuffled down the short distance of brightly lit hallway to the staircase beside the elevators. He pushed the door open and started to trudge downwards slowly. A deep frown pulled at the corner of his mask as he shoved his hands in his pockets. The walking, he figured, would help his mind and body by getting them to stop thinking about a certain pink-haired temptress. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he knew it wouldn't help nearly as much as he would have liked. His head still pounded while fogged in confusion, his chest still felt funny, and now his balls felt like they would shrivel and fall off. Even as he stepped outside to stomp on the snow-covered pavement, the sudden cold didn't bring any relief.

Kakashi grumbled to himself, knowing his thoughts from earlier were right. He'd never rid his system of her now. After having Sakura for those few moments, he knew it would never be enough. He exhaled in a hot puff of steam, letting it roll over his face. Now what could he do about that?

* * *

Genma pulled down the binoculars, then looked over at Ino. Her cheeks were as red as apples from both the cold and what they'd just witnessed. Not that he could blame her about being embarrassed one bit. Even his cheeks felt warmer than usual, but . . . "Kakashi . . . that idiot," the ninja grumbled as he shoved the binoculars back into his pocket.

"Why did he do that?" Ino asked in a small voice. "Does this mean he doesn't want her? Is it over?"

"No, it's far from over. He's just . . . I don't know. I can't read Kakashi, seeing as he keeps to himself almost exclusively. It's only around Sakura that he seems any bit grounded to earth. Only your friend could possibly know what he's thinking, but at this point . . ."

"Even she doesn't know."

He nodded with a frown. Remembering with a start that he still held her hand, Genma pulled away, burying his hand back into his coat. Suddenly, he put his feet back onto the ledge and stood up, keeping his back to Ino so as to not see the disappointment in her eyes. "Come on," he called from ahead of her. "We should go back. We'll see nothing else tonight, but maybe watching Kakashi will bring something new."

Trailing behind him as she stood up on the ledge, the blonde didn't believe him one bit. It felt like it was over before it had even begun. Yet, what her disappointment couldn't kill was the tingle in her loins caused by watching her best friend in bed with Genma's friend. It felt weird, a squirming type of weird that made her rethink all her preconceived notions of sex. At the same time, though, she did like watching them, though with a tinge of jealousy up until the point where the Copy Nin seemed to panic once the deed was done. 'Deed was done'? She nibbled on her lip, internally scolding herself for thinking in such immature terms about something very adult. Ok, so maybe she really was as innocent sometimes as she seemed after all. It wasn't like she could help it too much around Genma. While she could freely admit to herself that the display only highlighted her naivety regarding certain subjects, she would never say it out loud, least of all around the brown-haired pervert . . .

Well, ok, so he wasn't all that perverted, at least not as much as she originally thought he was. She should have believed him when he said he wasn't, but he sure acted like he wanted that reputation, given how he teased her so much. But then again, if she did say anything like that about sex to him, he'd take it the wrong way and be all over her, wouldn't he?

For some reason, Ino honestly didn't know anymore. Even when dancing with her earlier, he slammed on the brakes first, like he was trying to not want her. A small smile crossed her face as she watched him climb up to the roof, then reach down to help her up. Ok, so Genma was a nice guy after all . . . sometimes, maybe? When she was least expecting it was when he seemed to show a hint of another side to him. If only he showed that side more, she might start to think he wasn't as bad as she had thought at all. Hell, she already was thinking just that even if it didn't go with the image of him in her head.

Genma? A nice guy? She almost wouldn't have believed it if she had not been standing there while he graciously held out his hand to help her, just one of the many small things he did that she'd noticed.

She reached up to grab his hand, and climbed up with a huff. With a wobble on her heels, the blonde stood straight again after leaning on him for support. "You alright?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Her blush didn't go away and wouldn't be anytime soon. "Yeah, just cold and stiff."

"Then we should get you home and warm you back up."

Ino glared at him until he started chuckling with an edge of nervousness. "I didn't mean it like that, honest!"

"Slip of the tongue then?"

He grinned at her with a nod as her blush turned even redder. She squeaked in realization of her own slip, then started to walk quickly across the roof. Genma followed after her while laughing to himself, staying by her side as they jumped over the skyline.

Despite the embarrassment, she kept glancing at him from over her shoulder. Who was she kidding? In actuality, she didn't know a thing about him at all, did she? Even after they'd agreed to try to be friends, they never really spoke like two friends would. She'd been a little forthcoming when he asked about her personal history, but not once did she ask him a thing about his life. He didn't offer up much information either, did he? Or had he and she hadn't paid attention? How wrong had she been about Genma since she'd tried to stop assuming so much about him?

Her steps wobbled again for a moment as she stopped in the snow long enough to fix her heel. This was why only the Hokage wore high-heels while doing everything. He stopped as well. It wasn't until she heard him stifle a chuckle that Ino felt her hand gripping his forearm, finding that she had used him to lean on again without realizing it. "Sorry," she whispered, trying to ignore him, even if she couldn't.

"It's alright," he said, swishing around the toothpick in his mouth. "I could always carry you if those things are killing your feet."

The pointy shoes really were hurting her ankles, and her toes, and her arches, but that didn't stop her from whacking him across the shoulder. Genma didn't seem to mind, laughing good-naturedly as she huffed. "I'm only trying to help here, just thinking of you and your poor feet."

Ino paused, thinking that he might actually be sincere enough to mean that. The thought of him being concerned for her over something as simple as her toes didn't help her sort out her mind any. Her blue eyes shifted sideways as she soldiered on anyway, trying not to look at him. "I'll be fine as long as we get home before my toes turn blue," she grumbled while pulling her coat tighter.

He laughed again, but followed her anyway. She couldn't help but smile a little at the happy sound. Maybe . . . Genma really wasn't that bad of a guy? He never claimed he was, even if he had said once that he wasn't that great of a guy. Under all those layers, though, maybe he really was a nice guy and she never knew it?

Now there was a question she wanted to know the answer to.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 12 of Dirty Deeds, Nice Guys Finish Dead Last. 


	12. Nice Guys Finish Dead Last

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 12 – Nice Guys Finish Dead Last

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1. This chapter is almost exclusively Genma and Ino. If you're craving your KakaSaku fix, prepare to be a slight bit disappointed.

* * *

Genma landed on the balcony with a heavy-footed plop after stepping down from the railing, exhaling in relief. As much as he wasn't looking forward to watching Kakashi deal with his screw up, at least they were back to someplace warm now. He slid open the glass door and stepped in from the cold. Looking behind him, he saw the blonde kunoichi perched gracefully on the railing, precariously balanced on those lilac heels. He blinked when she didn't step down to join him, wondering what was making her blue eyes keep shifting away from him. Tired as he was, the ninja had little patience for Ino's behavior at that moment, even if she looked damned beautiful up there with the city lights illuminating the sky behind her. He moved back out onto the small balcony, extending his hand to help her down. "Come on. You can't stay out here all night." 

She took his hand and lightly stepped down with one foot. The expression on her face only made him more curious, and a touch nervous. All that smiling and those wide-eyed looks could kill someone. Grumbling, Genma let go of her hand and stepped back inside without her. "You should probably go to bed. The morning fireworks might beat tonight's if they tumble back in bed together."

Ino closed the sliding door and stood by it as her partner shuffled about the room, shedding his coat and kicking off his black shoes. The toothpick in his mouth waved back and forth as she couldn't stop looking at his lips, her thoughts distracted by the sight. His eyebrows arched at her, then lowered into a furrowed look. "Well?"

"I'm not feeling too tired . . ."

Genma shrugged as he sat on the bed, rubbing his face to wake himself back up and then bending over to rub his tired feet. "Fine then, we'll stay up together, but no getting grumpy with me about lacking your beauty sleep."

The blonde finally peeled her eyes away from him, shucking off her brown coat and letting it plop on top of his on the floor while crossing the room. Her heels were kicked off as well in the direction of the shinobi's feet. He lifted his toes out of the way quickly before the pointy footwear could impale his soles. "Hey! Watch where you throw those things!" he barked at her, getting nothing but giggles in return.

Grumbling, Genma watched as she leaned over one of the dressers to peer into the brown grocery sack containing their food supplies. He averted his eyes from her ass underneath the short, cool-colored dress until he heard the bag rustling. From underneath the pile of quick snacks, instant ramen, and prepackaged food, she pulled out a string of beer cans. After pulling one drink from its plastic ring, she tossed it towards him before grabbing one of her own. He caught it easily while blinking in surprise. "You do know there's tea underneath these if you're thirsty," he offered, somewhat suspicious as Ino plopped down in her usual chair at the table.

She ignored the remark for a moment to pull on the tab, opening it with a crisp hiss. Raising the can up, the blonde finally replied, "I'm not a child."

Genma's brown eyes narrowed on her. He knew quite well how old she was, but that didn't mean he had to like watching her drink. "What are you doing then, Ino?" he asked, unable to help the authoritative tone of his voice.

Her blue eyes rolled as she finally took a sip. Putting the can down, she glanced at him. "I'm just having a drink. You could, you know, join me maybe?" she suggested, leaning her cheek on her hand.

The ninja could feel his strings being pulled by her words. Maybe he was just being paranoid given what had happened earlier that night. He couldn't feel the drink he'd had earlier affecting his judgment at all anymore, and beer did nothing for him. Really, what would a drink with her hurt? Standing up from the bed, Genma walked over to the table, putting down the can across from her. He then grabbed the telescope, repositioning it close to his chair before flipping on the speaker. Ino smiled again as he reluctantly fell into the chair. "Now see? Was that so hard?" she teased, the smile turning into a grin.

For a moment, he grinned as well, forgetting that she was the one doing the teasing, which instantly turned his face into a scowl. He flicked open the beer can with his forefinger, grumbling, "I know you have some ulterior motive for enticing me with alcohol while waiting for Kakashi to come back, so you might as well spill it already."

Her face fell. She didn't touch her drink again as she leaned back in her chair. Genma nearly cursed himself out loud as he watched her mood change. His big mouth had done it again. Maybe if he'd just shut his mouth for once, he wouldn't keep putting his foot in it. "I'm sorry," he muttered quickly, hoping to solve a potential problem before it started.

Ino blinked at him for a moment, almost smiling again until she sighed. Her eyes closed as she spoke. "There's no need to apologize to me. If anything, I should probably be apologizing to you."

It was the brown-haired man's turn to blink. "What do you mean?"

She opened her eyes again while fidgeting in her chair. A moment later, she leaned slightly over the table, back straight as her elbows on the flat surface supported her weight. He blinked even more as she looked nervous. "Ino? Is there something I should know?"

"It's just that . . ." she started hesitantly, "I feel like I don't know you that well. We've been together for almost three weeks now, but I feel like we've never really talked . . ."

Genma sunk into his chair, then grabbed the beer. He spit the toothpick out of his mouth before taking a big gulp of the drink, ignoring much of the taste. Women and talking could spell disaster in the making, especially when it came to serious talking about his life, which he knew was what she wanted to get at. "What's there to know?" he muttered, ignoring how she looked at him. "I don't say too much about myself because there's not much to tell."

Ino's blue eyes narrowed slightly, not believing that statement. There was something to everyone, even seemingly shallow men like Genma. She suspected thought that was just how the man tended to portray himself. The trick was peeling back the layers of faked personality to find the real person underneath. Slowly, the blonde smiled, taking another sip. "Well, didn't you say you liked kittens?" she asked, the smile turning into a wide grin at his befuddled look.

"Kittens? You want to know about that?" he questioned, brow furrowed in confusion. "I can't believe you even remembered that."

She giggled. "Well, I did, and I want to know."

"Why?"

"Because it's a starting point, and it's as good as any other."

Genma's confusion turned to trepidation as he sat slouched in the chair. Ok, really, what would it hurt to open up to her a little? Well, actually, there _was_ one way she could hurt him with words. "All right, you can ask whatever you like, but," he said seriously, "no repeating it over the Yamanaka gossip network, got it?"

She giggled then nodded. "Fine, but I expect the same from you."

He smirked, knowing that there wasn't one scandalous thing she'd done that he hadn't already heard about. Shrugging, the shinobi settled in for what was no doubt about to be a long conversation. "My mother kept cats when I grew up. I was used to seeing at least one female and her litter of kittens around most of the time."

Ino smiled, leaning forward with her chin on her hands. "But you don't have one now?"

"Me? No way. When my best friend can barely keep a potted plant alive, it makes it weird to be the only one in that social circle with a living, breathing pet. Besides . . ." he grumbled, "they shed all over everything."

The blonde giggled as he scowled. "What? I mean it. Some cats are a damned nuisance to keep. They either like you or they don't, and if they don't, you damned well know it."

She still giggled anyway, grinning ridiculously as he seemed to be rather embarrassed by what he had admitted to. "Great, now you probably think I'm some softie," Genma grumbled, wishing he was somewhere else at that moment. "Ok, so I'm not some hardass like Kakashi or Asuma all the damned time. Bite me."

Ino couldn't help it any more, bursting out in silly laughter at the perturbed frown on his face. "No, it isn't that!" she yelled, waving her hands wildly at him. "It's just . . . it's so cute!"

The ninja groaned, slapping a hand over his face. Great, now he was cute to her . . . which normally wouldn't be so bad if he could have actually had her. But, alas, he couldn't, which made her thinking of his one personal pet preference as cute all the worse. Frowning, he watched as the kunoichi calmed down enough to not laugh in his face anymore. She smiled gently and his frown disappeared. "Well, ok, maybe it's not terribly cute, but it is profoundly . . . normal. I just never really pictured you with a cat . . ." Ino admitted.

Genma shifted in his seat, sighing before sitting still. "It's been a long time since I've had a cat. They all went away when I was about ten. My mother died that year," he said, grabbing for the beer. "I made chuunin the following year, which is impressive, I suppose, for an eleven year old, but then again, my dad made it to jounin by fourteen, and Kakashi beat us both."

Her foot shifted under the table, listening to him talk as he went on. "She died trying to give birth to who would have been my sister. After she passed, my father figured I was raised enough by then, so he threw himself into missions, and I did the same. He was an ok guy, and probably a good role model, but I never paid much attention to that."

The blonde worriedly bit her lip, trying to keep from asking the obvious question. But in the end, her curiosity about the man sitting across the table from her couldn't be helped. "Do you know what–"

"–what happened to him?" Genma asked, finishing the question for her. "I never heard the full report, but when I was about twenty, I know he went out with his team on another mission. They came back, but he wasn't with them. The only word I got was that he died doing his duty to the village, which is all I suppose any of us can do."

Ino didn't say anything else and looked down at the beer on the table, trying not to feel pity for him or guilt for asking. Comparatively, she had it easy, didn't she? The only tragedy in her life was the lack of romance. She had two parents that cared about her, friends to support her, and every benefit the shinobi life had to offer. While she knew it wouldn't always be like that, for now, her life was blessed. And Genma? Well, she was starting to see why he was the way he was just a little. "What about your parents? Still together?" he asked as she lifted her eyes again.

"Yeah, they are . . . but I don't live at home anymore. I finally moved out about a year ago. I still work at the flower shop, but you know that . . ."

"No cats?"

She blinked at the question, then started to smile again, unable to help it. "Yeah, one cat, or at least one that thinks of my home as her own," Ino explained.

"At least you're not some poor woman with twenty of them."

"Hey!" she yelled at him as he chuckled, "I'm not that hopeless and lonely!"

"Could have fooled me."

"I am not!" Ino shouted, her voice reaching towards glass-shattering screech levels. Genma kept on chuckling at the red embarrassment streaked across her face. Slowly, the irate anger simmered down to a scowl. The chuckling died, turning into an uncomfortable silence between them as they looked at each other. The ninja looked away first, ruffling the back of his brown hair. "I was just joking you know . . . Why do you always seem to take my jokes seriously?"

"I don't know . . ." she said while shuffling her feet under the table. "I guess it's because I take a lot of things seriously. Didn't I tell you that already?"

"You did, I think, but I keep forgetting." Genma chuckled slightly with a grin. "You need to loosen up some more and just relax. Being so uptight can't be good for you."

"I am not uptight! . . . I'm just proud, that's all," Ino said with a wave of her hand. "My father taught me to be proud of who I am and my clan, and to never let anyone look down on me or those I care about."

The way she nodded so matter-of-factly while sitting so poised made him smile. She did take after her father in some ways, and thankfully not every way: outgoing, prideful, but not overly traditional. Genma took another sip of his beer, then said with a slight sniff to his nose, "Inoichi-san always was a stickler for clan traditions and keeping up appearances over humility . . . I don't think he ever liked me much."

For a moment, Ino looked a touch deflated compared to before. "I keep forgetting that you kind of do know my father . . ."

"Kind of isn't the same as knowing him well enough at all. If anything, I know him solely on reputation of having a stick–"

Genma stopped himself before finishing that sentence. It never was a good idea to blurt out that a woman's father had a stick up his ass.

"That's kind of how he talked about you too . . . only that you had a different sort of reputation," the blonde said in a small voice. "But then again, he's always been defensive of me. He always finds something to nitpick over about any guy in the village, even Shikamaru . . . despite being best friends with his dad."

The notion of the head of the Yamanaka family being an over-protective dad to his little girl didn't surprise him at all. Of course not; if he had been a little less defensive over the blonde, she would have probably lost that pesky innocence of hers a long time ago. She would probably lose it soon anyway, and to old Nara's lazy pipsqueak too. Genma's brown eyes lowered slightly as he put the beer down, trying not to think about that. Why did he still think of her like that, anyway? They both knew she loved someone else, and that she'd never had sex before, but he couldn't stop thinking about it around her. He had no right to think of Ino like that, for her sake if anything. If she was going to lose her virginity, it should be with someone that cared about her, someone that deserved her. The point he kept trying to get across to himself was that her first time should be with someone that wasn't him, no matter how much he wished it was him.

Too bad that message kept getting lost in a flood of regret and jealousy. For only a moment, he really did feel jealous of Shikamaru's luck. It was only his cowardice that kept him from telling her, a feeling that struck him as eerily familiar to what Kakashi seemed to be going through with Sakura. Maybe if the two of them could put their heads together, both of their missions could be accomplished and personal problems solved . . . not that something like that would happen. Tsunade had told them not to get caught tailing the pair. Walking up to him in a city that was supposedly free of other shinobi interference? He wouldn't need to admit to anything since his silver-haired friend would already know he had been followed.

What could he do anymore but just keep it all to himself?

Ino looked at Genma curiously as he went quiet. She could tell he was thinking of something from the flicker in the chocolate brown depths of his eyes, but that was it. Not a flinch crossed his face, not a grin, or anything else for that matter. "Was it something I said?" the blonde wondered out loud.

The words finally got his attention and he shook his head to clear it. "Nah," he answered gruffly, reaching up to run his hand over forehead, "It's–"

His words were stopped by a sudden crackle over their speakers from the other hotel. First was the sound a knob turning, then the creaking of hinges before the bang of a wooden door being shut. "He's home," Genma announced as he swung around towards the telescope.

Ino got up from the table to walk over to her coat, coming back with her pair of binoculars. He was right. Immediately in view of the other window was Kakashi in the darkness, throwing off his coat near the doorway. The blonde frowned as they watched the man move sluggishly into the next room. "This is entertaining . . ." she groused. "Think if we ever developed a bug that reads someone's mind, he'd still come up blank?"

Genma snorted with a chuckle. "As blank as an unused jutsu scroll."

"Then why are we even bothering to watch him? It's not like we're going to learn anything this way."

". . ."

Ino's eyes rolled as he continued looking through the telescope without answering her. Typical, and just when she was getting somewhere talking to him, too. When she wanted to know more, he became distracted. Glancing down at the beer on the table, she reached out to grab it and take a large drink when he asked, "What's your cat's name?"

The blonde blinked at the sudden question from the shinobi, answering hesitantly, ". . . Miss Kitty?"

Genma chuckled. "You named her that?"

Blushing, Ino violently grabbed the beer with a scowl. "No, I didn't. The kids around the apartment building I live in named her. Apparently her name was Miss Kitty by group consensus long before I lived there. She seems to visit everyone in the building, but took up residence in my apartment when I moved in, so everyone thinks she's mine now."

"What does she look like?"

"A Manx, black and white. She's very friendly and is always there when I get home . . . I actually kind of miss her . . ."

"Spoken like a true cat lady."

Ino crushed the beer can in her hand, spraying her drink everywhere as she yelped at her own mistake. He laughed, even as she launched the nearly empty can at his head, letting it bounce harmlessly off his forehead. She pushed away from the table and stood up with a huff before walking towards the bathroom. "Oh come on. It was just another joke, Ino," he said with a grin, tilting his head back over the chair to look at her. "Sit back down."

Her mouth dropped open slightly at his request, then she scowled. "But my dress is–"

"Clean it later."

The blonde folded her arms over her waist while her hips cocked to the side. "What do I get in return?"

"You get to hear about the one time Shizune stuck a senbon in my–"

She couldn't help the giggle before he even finished, and walked back over towards the chair. Falling into the seat, she grinned at him while forgetting all about her ruined dress. "Alright, you win. How exactly did Shizune-san stick a senbon in your–?"

"I think we're going to need more beer for this."

* * *

The walk back to the hotel had helped neither his head nor his balls. More than once, the silver-haired man had stopped and contemplated turning around again, but he kept on walking instead. In all honesty, he didn't even know how he'd made it back to their suite, only that once he'd gotten there he'd become conscious of the fact that he didn't feel cold anymore. Kakashi tossed the black longcoat onto the couch and not into the pile of other winter garments by the door. He then sluggishly walked into the bedroom, pointedly ignoring each of her possessions lying about along the way. After clearing off the bed of more of Sakura's things, he sat down on it, bent over heavily with his elbows resting on his knees. 

Slowly, he lifted one leg at a time to methodically unlace and pull off his heavy black snow boots. He tossed them one after another onto the floor, watching as they clunked into her pile of shoes. Women and shoes, as if one pair was never enough for them. The irony was that he could remember when she wore each set over the past month: the tall, heeled boots when they first arrived in Snowfall; the clear, crystal spangled heels she wore when dancing with him at the party; the flat brown ankle boots she'd tried to kick him with in the ventilation shaft; the black stiletto heels with the narrow slashes that he couldn't stop staring at. All of them he could remember in those moments with such startling clarity.

Slowly, his dark eye wandered towards the sparkle of white crystal beading on black organza. It was Sakura's evening gown in the darkness, laid out over the chair as if the wearer would come along any moment to put it on. His eye closed as he let out a held breath. The maid still hadn't touched it or put it away. Standing up from the bed, he walked over to the chair. The tips of his fingers curled over a shoulder strap of nude silk, reaching under it as his thumb brushed the delicate material. He could still see in his head how radiant she looked in the gown, how proud he was having her on his arm. Grabbing the fabric in both hands, he lifted the neckline to just under his nose and pressed against his mask. It still smelled like her too.

No matter what he did, everything in that room reminded him of Sakura.

Kakashi gently picked up the rest of the gown, making sure not to snag the fine material on anything, and then walked towards the small closet beside the bedroom door. Sliding one of the wooden panels open, he took a hanger from within and slipped the gown's straps over the handles. He hung the garment up beside his tuxedo, staring at the two outfits side-by-side. Backing up, the ninja sat down on the bed, going over the events of the evening in his head again. What had he done? The first genuine friendship he'd had in years, and in a single night, he'd managed to screw it all up. He knew touching her in any way would lead to eventual downfall, but the temptation had been too great. Why did he do it anyway, knowing the consequences? He must have been mad or something, right?

The only thing he could think of that explained everything was love, but that wasn't possible. There was no way he could possibly love–

No, he didn't love Sakura. He couldn't love anyone. Love killed people, twisted them, and broke them. It had killed Rin. It was destroying Jun. It was not something he ever wanted to feel. What was there about love to be happy about given his past experiences witnessing its effects? Love wasn't meant for him, and he knew that. He had accepted that it was an emotion beyond him a long time ago. He couldn't love anyone, especially not Sakura. Yet, everything he felt for her could no longer be explained by just friendship between them. No matter how many times he'd said that phrase to her or even himself, the word continued to sound hollow. Somewhere, just friendship had lost its meaning.

What he felt for Sakura couldn't be explained as just simple lust either. He was not that much of an idiot to cave in to just lust. It was not something he'd throw out their entire friendship for. Furthermore, if it really was just that, one night's indulgence should have satisfied the hunger, but he felt far from fulfilled. Thoughts of her wouldn't be haunting his troubled mind if it was that.

He groaned, burying his face in his hands. He really did want her, to have more of her than what he'd sampled. Those pink lips of her, he could imagine them being bitten by her teeth in his head, and it made him wonder what she tasted like. Kakashi groaned, rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes. Somehow, what he felt in that moment seemed like the very definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he admitted to the truth of what he felt either way, then he truly would be screwed in one form or another.

Growling in aggravation, he stood up and walked over to his pack. He pulled out a set of dark blue pajama bottoms and started to get changed, not that he would be getting any sleep anytime soon. Tossing the clothes aside in frustration when he finished, the silver-haired man flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Slowly, his single eye felt a tug, gravitating back to the sparkle within the closet. He frowned, knowing he was staring at the gown again. It was taunting him, laughing at him, and he knew it. But why? Why couldn't he just let it go? He groaned even louder as he flopped back on the bed, looking straight up at the ceiling.

This was all happening because he lost that stupid book. It was so easy to repress everything pertaining to Sakura with a copy of Icha Icha anything on hand. He could ignore her enough with porn to not let on about how he felt around her, on top of being able to cope with any desire. But no, once he'd lost that book, all hell had broken loose. He couldn't suppress a damned thing around her anymore; it was as if his very carefully cultivated armor had rusted in the absence of his reading material. He should have gone out and bought another book, but no, he'd taken that bet of hers. He just had to prove to her that he didn't need it . . . when in actuality he needed it badly. Kakashi grumbled, trying to recall the ruined pages from memory, yet that didn't help either. Damn his pride, he should have figured it out sooner before he'd crumbled like this. This fiasco was a disaster of his own making, especially given how long he had been using those paperbacks to cope with all risqué thoughts he had regarding Sakura.

How long had he been using that book, anyway? About a year, perhaps? Maybe just a few months, actually, not that he was too sure himself. The days tended to blend together when they were around one another unless something worth remembering happened. Four years . . . and it wasn't until last summer that he realized the woman he was partnered with was worth looking at. He never should have seen her in that yukata, never should have let her drag him along to the summer festival when he really didn't want to go. After that, he should have gone back to just thinking of her as his friend and partner. He should have gone back to ignoring her unless it was important. He shouldn't have paid attention to each of her mini-crises when they cropped up, or to how much she smiled at him when she thought he wouldn't notice, or how she joked with him, or how smart she really was, or how her lack of a love life was truly depressing to witness. When had he actually crossed that line of caring about her as his friend versus caring about her as . . . something else?

And now that 'something else' was what exactly? Nothing at all, given what he'd done? How could they go back to something that he couldn't even define?

Kakashi's eyes shifted sideways, not liking that thought at all. No matter what he thought, the damage was done. By morning, nothing would be the same between himself and Sakura, a sobering thought to a ninja unused to too much change in his life. The more he thought about it, the more he did want their relationship to be the same as that 'something else', for her to smile at him, and laugh at him, and care about him, and joke with him, and be angry with him . . . And yet, with a creeping realization that crawled over his nerves, he knew just having the same thing wouldn't feel like enough. It wasn't enough for him just to be with her anymore since he wanted her to know how he felt . . . except he still didn't know what to feel. Kakashi's eye focused on the gown once more, not knowing what exactly he wanted from her at all, except that he no longer wanted to be just her friend.

But if he couldn't be her friend anymore, what could he be? Could he even be her partner anymore?

Even if it meant the end of their partnership, he couldn't stand being stuck in this inconsequential place anymore, unable to move forward. He stared up again, unconsciously rubbing at the sharp pain in his chest arising from that thought. How strange it was that the thought of losing Sakura, not to death but to his own stupidity, hurt worse. Really, who was he kidding? He'd do anything to keep her beside him, even if it meant living in even deeper denial.

Kakashi frowned, trying not to think of being in denial, even if he knew he was.

Wait, how was he even sure this was denial?

He smacked a hand over his eye and forehead, fighting down the urge again. This was it. He'd finally and completely lost his last shreds of sanity. There could be no other explanation for this bout of self-doubt and tempered control. It wasn't like him at all. It had to be a slow and gradual descent into craziness doing this to him, not Sakura.

Sakura . . .

The hand slid off of his eye, the dark pupil drifting over to the sparkle of crystal beading in the darkness. It was denial, wasn't it? Every thought he had kept coming back to the pink-haired young woman. For just a second, he wanted to forget about her, but he couldn't.

What was that if not denial?

And considering how he kept mentally banging his head against the wall so adamantly when it came to her, it had to be denial. Kakashi's frown evened out into a thin, thoughtful line spread across his face. The pain in his chest wouldn't go away as his thoughts deepened. It was a vicious cycle repeating itself in his head, one concerning only her that ground to a halt as he realized . . .

There was an explanation for everything he felt.

He knew that much, even if the obvious answer eluded him still. The only thing he knew for certain was the fact that he did care for Sakura, a lot, more than a mere friend should. The course of the past few weeks had only highlighted how much he really did care about her. It had been a long time since he had admitted feeling that much about a person to himself. How could he be in denial over that fact? Well, it didn't matter how so much as that he was. He could tell himself over and over again that he didn't feel anything for Sakura but friendship, that everything he did for her was born of that simplistic emotion, but the reality was . . .

The ninja's black eye widened as his mind filled in the missing blank for him.

He really did love Sakura.

"Shit," Kakashi cursed to himself, the realization sinking in too quickly for his liking. He loved Sakura . . .

It was true, wasn't it? He really did love her. Why else would he be so miserable and in denial? He'd just admitted that he cared for her more that he should. He couldn't stop thinking about her, that was for certain. She'd been by his side so long that he knew her well, enough that he couldn't find one thing about her he'd change. She wasn't perfect, but she'd long since stopped trying to be anyone but herself. He certainly couldn't deny being physically attracted to her after that night, but he'd crossed that bridge a long time ago. Even just seeing her smile made him feel like everything was right in his world.

Kakashi let out the breath he'd been holding, his eye sliding closed as well. He really did love her, didn't he?

He could attempt to fool himself all he wanted, but denial wouldn't make it go away now. That one word which he had so stubbornly refused to believe solved much of what troubled him while making whole new problems. He did love her, and hearing those words in his mind at high volume and on constant repeat threw his heart into convulsions. His fingers tapped nervously on the sheets, jittering as his thoughts raced. What was he going to do now? Admitting he did love Sakura to himself was vastly different than just living with silent unawareness of the fact, which was completely different from actually telling her how he felt. How could he tell her? Would he even tell her? What if she said no? Saying those three little words when she wouldn't return them would be the final nail in the coffin for their partnership. Was it a risk he could willingly take? She might never want to speak to him ever again, but if their working relationship was dead no matter what . . . was the risk worth it?

The shinobi sat up on the bed abruptly, glancing over his shoulder at the hanging evening gown. Standing up, he pushed the closet door closed, unable to look at it anymore, and then curled up in the bed again, resting his back against the headboard. There was no way he could sleep with the way his thoughts kept circling around the possibilities of how his newfound problem would end. He should have listened to himself and kept strong in his belief that love was the ruination of people. It was certainly, at the very least, driving him mad, and partially put a seed of fear into him. What he felt for Sakura, the first woman he could honestly say he truly did love, could destroy what was left of his humanity. What hope was there that it would be worth it in the end? Maybe he was a coward for thinking like that, but above all, Kakashi liked being realistic in his chances. In all his second-hand exposure to love, the reality was that it never ended well. Even his gut told him that this could not end well.

But still, he had to hold on to some glimmer of hope before love really did scare him to death.

* * *

"F-f-forty?!" Ino spluttered in disbelief, staring at the brown-haired shinobi across the small table. "You're forty?!" 

Genma tried to sit there and look as casual as ever under the blonde's question as it hung in the air between them, but he couldn't. His eyes couldn't help but shift as his unoccupied mouth flapped an answer. "Well, so is Shizune, and she could look a lot worse with the stress she works under . . ."

For a long moment, the room was silent . . . until the kunoichi burst out in hysterical laughter. He groaned, trying to drown out the noise of her high-pitched voice at near full screech. For some odd reason, he couldn't decide what was worse, her laugh or the fact that she was laughing over his age. Why did he feel the compulsion to tell her? So what if she did ask for it? It didn't mean he had to tell her the truth! Maybe if he had lied just a little, then she wouldn't be doing a wonderful impression of an overly-excited hyena. The more she went on, the more an annoyed twitch crept up onto his eyebrows. "Are you done yet?" Genma asked gruffly, holding back from frowning at her.

Ino wheezed while trying to catch her breath, which was made damned near impossible by the dirty looks he kept shooting her. She could barely swallow another bubble of laughter, and his face only grew more discontented. Like she could help it when he looked at her like that! The blonde hissed a soft giggle, sounding like a squeaky hose in the process. He was just too adorable when his feathers were ruffled. She could laugh at Shikamaru, but he didn't give a damn to react whereas Genma seemed to care about his appearance too much. He finally groaned again, rolling his eyes while turning away from her. "Damnit. I never should have told you."

A devilish grin spread across the blonde's face as she finally contained her laughter enough to talk. "Oh come on. I'm not laughing over the fact that you're forty, it's just . . ."

He snorted in derision. "Yeah . . . right."

"I swear, it really isn't your age! I really could care less that you're forty, but, it's just . . ."

He glared at her, brown eyes narrowed. "Oh really? What is it then?"

Ino shifted in her chair for a moment, and he could tell from the subtle movement that she was crossing her legs under the table. Her hand reach for an open beer can, but stopped short of picking it up to run her fingers over the lid instead. "It's just that . . ." she started to say in distraction until her blue eyes looked up into his, "well, you just never looked like that age to me . . . and you certainly don't act like it either!"

A small smirk crossed Genma's face. "You don't have to stroke my ego, Ino. I can accomplish that well enough on my own."

This time, he laughed at the scowl that marred the pretty blonde's face. He turned back towards her again while chuckling, reaching for his own beer. "I did mean it, you know. You're under no obligation to point out that I still look damned good for a geezer, unlike one-eye who looks maybe forty pushing sixty," he said with another smirk before pausing to take a drink. "And you don't have to call me childish for my age. We'd already established that fact three beers ago."

Ino leaned back heavily in the chair with a sigh. "You've left me with almost nothing to say then . . ."

He started to smile slightly until she smiled back. ". . . Except to agree that you are childish when not stroking your own ego."

Genma's smile faltered as she burst out laughing again, this time the sound more silly than shrill. He clinked the can on the table again as she calmed back down, grinning at him while leaning over the table again. She tried to prop up her chin with both hands, but failed, the second slipping down to flop limply on the table. The ninja shook his head in resignation as she continued to grin. "You're drunk," he declared as she snorted in giggles.

"Am not."

"How many drinks have you had?"

"Three. I can usually take five," Ino said with a distasteful sniff to her nose. "Who are you, anyway? My father?"

He grunted. "I hope not, or else I might have to spank you."

She giggled again, this time fixing her pose correctly with her fingers curled delicately over the side of her face. Then suddenly, the giggles stopped. At the silence, Genma's eyes drifted over towards her, taking in the somewhat unreadable expression in her smile. Well, maybe not so much unreadable as one that he unconsciously didn't want to define. There was definitely something in those blue eyes that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in warning. He watched as one long finger slowly slid a pale lock of hair behind her ear as she tilted her head. Suddenly, he recognized the look she was giving him as curiosity, fascinated curiosity about something he had said. "Is . . . is that what you're really into?" she asked, looking to be fighting down a blush.

The shinobi's mind was already far ahead of her question, tumbling head long into the gutter. His eyes rolled away, feigning ignorance just to see if they truly were on the same thought pattern. "Into what exactly?"

". . . Spanking?" The blush couldn't be hidden anymore.

He looked at her pointedly, furrowing his brow slightly. "What? No. It was just a joke."

His eyes quickly drifted off of her and towards the beer. If Ino was going to keep asking questions like that, he was going to need to be a lot drunker to answer without caring. She just had to bring up his sex life, right?

She fidgeted slightly in the chair as he finally looked away, pondering on exactly what he had feared. It was odd thinking about that sort of thing and the man before her. She knew his reputation and practically felt it earlier that night on that dance floor. For all she knew, his actual proclivities could have been worse than spanking. He could like tying women down . . . or maybe that thing she'd heard about his tongue was true! Her blush turned a deeper shade of red as her imagination filled in the gaps. She'd already seen his oral fixation up close, so it wasn't hard to believe that his tongue could . . .

But then again, she'd heard that from Anko, and everyone knew the snake lady always exaggerated her tales. With a start, Ino realized that the only thing she did know about that aspect of his life was by gossip only. For all she knew, his 'reputation' could be a pack of lies muddled with grains of truth. All they ever said about him was about being great in bed . . . She shouldn't have even been thinking about these things and Genma in the first place! It felt wrong! This was Shiranui after all she was thinking about in her head as her eyes stays glued on his lips. If she hadn't seen Sakura in such a similar position with Kakashi between her legs, she wouldn't have even thought of it, maybe? If it wasn't for all those beers, surely she would have been repulsed by the very idea, right? He licked his lips for a moment, and suddenly the blonde wasn't too sure about that anymore.

Her stocking-clad feet shuffled under the table, toes curled and pressed into the carpet on point. "Well . . . what are you into then? I mean, I keeping hearing about how you . . ."

He looked up at her just in time to see a flash of tongue moisten her bottom lip before she bit it. His eyebrows arched nearly up to his hairline as she squirmed in her chair. She couldn't mean that, could she? Just the very sight of her suggestive mouth movements made the hairs on the back of his neck stand in warning and excitement. His mind tumbled over that very idea of what it would be like to see her spread over the table, to lift up that tight dress off of her, to pull down her panties, and to–

"I always have wondered if it was true . . . about your oral . . . fixation . . ." Ino trailed off.

Genma's mind came to a screeching halt once his very thoughts were uttered by Ino. The only thing that wanted to respond was his libido, with a very enthusiastic reply, but fortunately his voice decided not to work either as his mouth gaped open once before slamming shut. Ino still looked shyly at him, making him feel the pressure of an expected answer as he started to perspire a little. How could he answer this and not say too much? Somehow, he had to end this before his mouth got him in trouble again. "You really shouldn't be asking me that," he finally admitted, turning away from her.

The bashful look on her face disappeared in an instant with a confused blink. "Why not?"

Because if he acted on how he felt, he'd be bending her backwards over that table in a second?

"Because I . . . you just shouldn't ask me that. You're not old enough to know better."

He shifted in the chair again with a cross of his arms, pointedly ignoring the blonde once more. It didn't exactly take a genius to see how uncomfortable he was around her. Ino's blue eyes narrowed coldly on him, seeing right through his words. "Not old enough or just too pure to understand?"

"I didn't–"

The blonde cut him off before he could explain. "I told you just this morning I'm not that innocent! Stop assuming I'm some simple-minded virgin!"

Genma's eyes narrowed on her in turn as she trembled in fury, knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge of the table hard. "I never said you were . . ." he muttered darkly. "But I will say you are naïve about a lot of things."

"Naïve?! You–"

"What? Tell me something I don't already know."

"You asshole!"

The ninja sat there passively , staring back at her in spite of the name hurled in his face. He didn't say anything as she slowly calmed down enough to not be hyperventilating in rage. Ino's glares at him prompted no response, not until she hurled herself back heavily in the chair with an aggravated huff. "You really are an asshole," she hissed under her breath with a shake of her head. "Just when I think I understand you, too."

"How many men have you been more than just friends with, Ino?"

Her eyebrows shot up in the dark in surprise. He couldn't seriously be asking her that, could he? Faintly painted lips pressed into a thin angry line. "You have no right to ask me that, least of all after you called me naïve."

"How many?" Genma pressed her. For a moment, her blue eyes shifted sideways, disbelieving that he would be taking this question this seriously. Ino's teeth grinded together as she answered, "You know damned well how many."

"None, then."

She winced at hearing the truth, looking away. "So? What of it? That doesn't make me–"

"Who do you think you're kidding by denying it? You truly have no idea what a relationship is like then, let alone sex."

"I do too, you–! You–! . . . I am not the romantic fool you're trying to make me out to be, you pervert! I know enough about love, sex, whatever–!"

"From what, love stories and romance books? When have they ever resembled reality? Grow up and stop pretending that love and sex are even related, because they aren't. Neither of them are the end all, be all of existence. Even sex alone isn't all you think it is. It isn't the answer to any of your problems, either. You really would be a romantic fool to think otherwise."

Her mouth dropped open, ready to scream at him again, but then snapped shut as she looked away indignantly. How dare he?! She knew enough to know what to expect. What gave him the right to judge her like that?! He didn't know how she felt at all! How could he–?!

He realized his mistake as soon as the last word left his mouth.

This time his foot had been shoved so far down his throat, he could possibly kick his own ass. He shouldn't have been that cruel. Ino was still young after all, and not disillusioned with the concept of romance like he was. She had the rest of her life to become bitter about the opposite sex, and here he was trying to knock down her dreams prematurely. She . . . she didn't have to end up like him, did she? Why was it that around her, he could never say what he really meant? Or that he kept screwing up by saying something that was, well, asshole-ish? Why couldn't he let her just keep believing whatever she wanted to believe? It was like he kept trying to prove a point to her, and to himself, but couldn't figure out exactly what that point was. What was the purpose of it all, anyway? She'd never know exactly how he felt on the subject of love because he wouldn't dare say it.

Her thoughts stopped as she glanced sideways at Genma, seeing the stony expression change into something sadder. The blonde sunk in the chair once more, torn between feeling pity for him and anger at herself for getting mad in the first place. "I didn't say that to be mean . . ." he trailed off, reaching out to wrap his hands over the beer can. "It's just that you should know that everything isn't always perfect."

An angry glare flashed across her eyes, then faded as she muttered, "I know that."

Genma sighed, leaning on his elbows on the table. "No, I don't think you do you know. If you had been in a serious relationship, then you'd know that sex isn't everything."

Ino sniffed. "I do know that, you idiot."

"Then why did you put me on the spot about my sex life?"

"I . . . I was just curious," she hesitated in saying, fighting down a blush as her eyes shifted. "I mean, your reputation in that department isn't something to sneeze at."

The brown-haired man stared at the kunoichi seriously, making her squirm in her chair. So that was why she'd asked? He should have known. "I wasn't being modest a few weeks ago when I said I am not as good in bed as some women claim," he said, batting down the perverse euphoria he felt at watching the blush on her cheeks go from pale pink to cherry red.

"I never said that!" she flustered after a second. "Just that you're . . . you know . . . experienced . . . You can't blame me for being curious!"

For half a moment, an evil grin crossed Genma's face until he reined it in. Shaking his beer can, the remnants sloshed around, sounding faintly non-existent. He stood up from the table, moving towards the fresh set of cans sitting beside their food supply. "I don't get off on anything too kinky if that's what you wanted to know," he said bluntly. "I'm a relatively simple guy when it comes to sex. If the woman is satisfied with my performance, that's all I need to hear."

Ino stirred in the chair, watching as he pulled his fourth drink free from the plastic rings. "Ok . . . You should have just said that without getting me pissed off at you!"

He gave a small snort of laughter while turning towards her. "You're the one that brought up the point. I was just stating the obvious."

"You could have been a little nicer about it."

He tried not to wince. All right, so he could have been a little gentler. Her point was made, but he wasn't about to back down off of his. Slowly, Genma walked back towards the table and sat down again with relieved sigh. The can was plopped down on the surface as well, sitting unopened. He looked at the blonde seriously again as her blushing faded. "As much as we've talked tonight, you know there are parts of me that aren't nice when it comes to certain realities."

Ino looked away, frowning. "I know. I remember that. I also know that you've never stayed in a relationship."

For a moment, the ninja looked shock at her revelation. He certainly never told her that. "How did . . .?"

"Konoha gossip mill, remember? I guess not everything I hear is made up."

He didn't say anything, reaching over to pull the can tab open suddenly with a hiss. She watched him, unable to help the look of pity on her face as he ignored her. "I don't know . . . I don't know how you can be so cold when it comes to, well . . . that. Don't you have any hope at all?"

"Not when it comes to that. I sort of gave it up a while ago, among other things," Genma said bitterly.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you give up on love?"

"Because I realized it wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean, it's stupid really, the way men fall all over themselves for a woman. Look at Kakashi or your own friend. She's still oblivious as hell and he's more screwed up in the head than I've ever seen him in over twelve years. If that isn't stupidity incarnate, I don't know what is."

Slowly, a smile crossed Ino's face. "You don't mean that."

"Of course I do! I'm a jaded, cynical bastard! . . . Deal with it."

"No, you don't. Want to know why?" she asked as her smile turned more amused.

His brown eyes rolled. There was no convincing her when she had that look on her face, so he might as well not even try. "Fine," Genma grumbled, "enlighten me."

"Because deep down you're scared of falling in love, just like any other man, so you're covering it up with cynicism and all this being realistic bullshit," Ino accused him with a pointed finger. "Admit it. The reason you act like you don't believe in love is because you don't want to let a woman be close to you. It's so obvious in how much you protest and in how you keep just hooking up."

For a moment, his jaw went slack before he clammed back up. He then grabbed the beer, chugging back a big gulp before slamming the can back down. The blonde didn't move an inch, even if she stopped smiling. "Don't be ridiculous," he muttered, "I am not afraid of emotions or women. Being forty, I have quite a few years of experience dealing with kunoichi with more baggage than you. If there is one thing I've learned after Anko, it's never to underestimate a woman's ability to–"

Ino blinked as he abruptly stopped. "Anko?"

For a moment, Genma glanced at her with a slightly troubled look as her eyebrows arched in surprise. The look on his face spoke volumes of what his mouth wouldn't say. Perhaps she didn't want to know more about the nature of his perhaps previous relationship with the snake lady after all. The awkward silence between them finally broke when she said, "You still haven't really answered me."

"Not that again."

"Well, am I right or wrong?"

"Of course you're wrong, I really don't­­­–"

"I still don't believe you." Ino started to smile again in a matter-of-fact way.

He groaned. "You can choose to believe me or not, but I mean it . . . I deeply don't want love, and that's it."

Her head snapped to attention, the smile slowly disappearing again. He was still lying, she could tell by his denial, but at the same time, there was a grain of truth to the last sentence. She couldn't help the tinge of pity for him. It was obviously something he didn't want to think about, even if the how's and why's eluded her. Something or a series of things had to have happened to have shut down his emotions so completely. Although, she wasn't so sure how deeply the ice ran in his veins. There was something in the way he did look her and not look at her, a mixture of pain and hope. As if he really didn't want to fall in love, but couldn't help the spot of softness now and then. ". . . Now, that, I actually believe you do mean," she said after long moment.

Genma looked up at her, confused for a moment until his eyes met hers. "You really do believe in it still, don't you?" he asked, leaning over the table again. "Even after how the whole village knows that you make great big blue cow eyes around Old Nara's kid, and that he doesn't even notice, you still believe in love? Why?"

She winced as he pointed out that fact about herself and Shikamaru, mulling that very question. "Because I want to believe it's possible, because . . . what else is there?" Ino said before sighing. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am naïve about what I want to happen, but it never happens anyway, so I have no idea why I keep trying. I don't even know why I do it anymore. It was so different crushing on Sasuke. I never lost my nerve around him like I do around Shikamaru. He's such a genius that I feel tongue-tied and useless. It's like I've turned into how Sakura used to be, and I'm supposed to be an adult! But . . ."

"You can't give him up, can you?" he asked, for once managing to hide his own feelings around her.

The blonde didn't look at him anyway, lost in her own thoughts. Genma was right. No matter how much she wanted to forget in that moment that she liked her lazy teammate at all, she couldn't. After harboring those feelings for so long, letting them go seemed impossible. She must have been stupid or something to keep believing Shikamaru would like her back in time. Ino sighed and shook her head. "You must think I'm stupid or something for feeling this way about him."

Somewhere in the shinobi's chest, a tinge of pain hit him in the heart. "No, I don't think you're stupid or something. First love is . . . first love, after all."

Ino blinked at him in surprise for bringing up first love, but then dismissed it a moment later. He probably didn't mean a thing by it anyway. Cerulean eyes drifted off to the side again, staring into the dark sky outside their window.

"I should give up, shouldn't I? The more I think about it, pining over him, the stupider I feel. I've wasted all these years and hopes on him. I'm not even the only one that likes him, that stupid Temari . . . She isn't even one of the Leaf, but he always sees her when she's in town, and she just so happens to be in town when I go away on this . . ." her nose crinkled in hatred as she spat her next words, "this _mission_. We haven't even done anything. It's_useless_."

Genma watched as she shot up from the chair, walking over to the beer cans herself and violently pulling off the last few. Ino took one hesitant step back towards the table, then stopped, putting the alcohol back down. Closing his brown eyes, the words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself, "As soon as we get back to Konoha, you should tell him."

Blonde hair whipped around as her eyes snapped onto his profile in the darkness they were drinking in. "You really think that?"

"Yes, I do. You shouldn't give up hope that easily. I know that you're stronger than that. You should tell him, no matter what his answer may be. He needs to know, and you need to tell him. Even if it isn't the outcome you'd like, at least then it'll be off your chest."

Ino looked at him puzzled at first, then in awe, her lips parted slightly. He didn't look at her, staring blankly back at the table and the clutter of cans. There, he had said it, even if he had never wanted to give her that advice. Hell, if she only knew how he had wanted to take his own suggestion, then perhaps he wouldn't have felt so horrible about giving it. She wasn't naïve or stupid. He was simply wrong about her. Or maybe it was just denial, since he couldn't have her, that left him bitter. If only he had the courage to take his own advice.

She moved silently back to the table and dropped slowly into the seat, the expression on her face still the same. So, she really was completely wrong about him, Genma that was. He wasn't cold at all. It really was all a front, wasn't it? The chauvinism, the cynicism, everything he tried to portray really was to mask up the nice guy underneath. Maybe he actually did buy it himself until rare moments when his real self peeked through. The thought of that possibility, that the village's confirmed bachelor could actually be as lonely as the rest of the population, made her face light up. She couldn't help the smile at all. He was just so, so . . . sweet!

Seeing the beautiful smile on Ino's face made the ninja's heart feel worse. "Don't look at me like that. It's scary," he muttered, and her smile only lit up more. "Oh hell . . ."

"You really think so?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Genma groaned in torment, suddenly wishing he could take it back. If he kept chipping away at his own reputation like this, nothing would be left. "It's just advice from personal experience, nothing else," he grumbled.

"So you actually confessed–"

"No, it's from turning confessing women down."

Her smile stopped, but didn't turn into a frown this time. She was beginning to learn how he lied to her. Every time he did, she noticed how he refused to look directly at her, but instead kept his unfocused brown eyes on her, as if he could see right through instead. Another awkward silence descended, but this time she didn't want to break it quickly. Instead, her thoughts swirled while watching him sit there. Why did he keep trying to pretend to be something other than himself? What was the point in maintaining his reputation anyway now that she knew so much about him? Perhaps Genma liked keeping up appearances more than she thought, or . . . he was hiding something else. How much deeper could she get until she finally figured him out? For all his shallow behavior, he was more complicated than she expected.

But why was she even interested in learning even more about him?! She was supposed to be interested in Shikamaru! Yet, then again, unlike the man across from her, the lazy shinobi with the mind of a steel trap was easy to read when he wasn't doing anything. She already knew all about him. But Genma . . . Ino's lips quirked to the side as she regarded him. He really was more interesting to figure out, and her curiosity could not be quenched. She watched as he moved away from the table and back towards the telescope. The speaker had long since gone quiet of Kakashi groaning, seemingly in misery, while rattling around the hotel room, and she assumed that he'd gone to sleep. Maybe she was wrong as the shinobi looked through the lens, then pulled away to shake his head. "He's got it bad," he announced before letting out a slow breath.

Ino frowned. Like she didn't know that fact already after watching the silver-haired Copy Nin return. He looked like he had it bad. Trying not to roll her eyes, she asked the obvious, "What is it?"

"Remember how he was sitting earlier? At the top of the bed?"

"Yeah."

"It's three hours later maybe and he hasn't moved an inch."

Grabbing the binoculars off the table, Ino looked for herself. Sure enough, Kakashi just sat there like Genma had said: unmoved and as still as a human sculpture with his dark eye wide open. Only the subtle rise and fall of his abdomen let her know that he was even alive. Slowly, she pulled the spyglasses away and placed them back on the table among the empty cans. Genma was right. He did have it bad, even if she sort of already knew that. "See, this is why I don't want to fall in love," the brown-haired ninja said as she looked up. "What's the point in making yourself crazy like that? It does nothing if the other half doesn't feel the same way. If only Sakura knew how he felt. If she just had some clue . . . How can she not know after what happened tonight? She certainly enjoyed it, but . . ."

"Kakashi ran, probably is still running, figuratively," Ino interjected with her own assessment. "It isn't love that is driving him crazy like you're assuming. It's the fear of it . . ."

"Isn't that what's keeping you from telling Shikamaru?"

"Isn't that what's keeping you from letting your front down enough to fall in love?"

The pair sat there a while, each of them looking out the window towards the hotel not far from theirs. After a few moments, Genma's chair slid back towards the table but remained turned away from it. "It isn't like that . . ." he whispered after a long moment, not daring to look at her, even as she watched him intently. "I don't . . . I mean . . . I mean, so what? So what if Kakashi is afraid of love? So what if you are as well? So what if I am too? The only difference between any of us is that I can hide it the best behind sarcasm and bad behavior . . . except that I can't seem to hide it so well from you . . ."

Ino blinked as he continued regardless with a shake of his head. "That doesn't change the fact that it's only natural to be afraid of what we don't know and can't understand. People talk about emotions as if they understand them, but do they really? We're not mind readers. Can you really know what someone else is feeling, enough to return it?"

She didn't know exactly what to say to him as he slumped back in the chair. As much as it chilled her to think about it, he seemed right. The reality was no one knew anything about anyone at all. A person could hide their true emotions from everyone except themselves, and no one would know. Deadening their sensitivity to their feelings practically came with the duty of a shinobi. Could any of them really love someone if they didn't know if the sentiment would honestly be returned? It made so much sense . . . except . . .

"There's only one way to know, and that's to take the chance," Ino said proudly, rising out of her seat to lean over the table towards him. "You told me to take that chance and to tell Shikamaru how I felt, and I will, but you can't take your own advice for yourself? Even if someone's afraid, they still take chances. That's all love is, gambling all you feel for the sake of not feeling so alone anymore. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least you haven't given up. I refuse to give up, ever! I . . . I don't care if I get rejected! Rejection is better than hiding!"

Her hands slammed down on the table, toppling empty beer cans. Genma looked up at her, their eyes meeting. Just one look into those determined orbs of oceanic blue in the darkness and he knew: she was right. For a virgin, she was right. If he had any chance at all, this was it. She could beat the crap out of him later, but if he didn't do this right now, he'd never be able to ever again. For once in his entire love life, he wouldn't let a woman just walk in and walk out of his life without feeling something. Ino stayed slightly bent over the table, leaning on her arms as her breath stayed quick from rising in anger. A moment later, she blinked, confused at the slow change in his brown eyes.

He wasn't looking through her anymore.

Before she could stand up straight again, his arm shot forward to grasp around her shoulder and onto the back of her neck. He quickly lifted out of the chair just as she tried to pull away, leaning in over the table closer to her. His face stopped just a mere inch or so away from her for almost the third time in one day, and the blonde panicked. He wouldn't. He couldn't. He'd chickened out twice already. He couldn't kiss her! Yet, the longer Genma hovered there, the more she began to doubt those thoughts.

Slowly, his eyes closed and she froze on the spot, unable to back away as he closed the space between them. Her breath was swept away the moment his lips touched hers, full-on and insistent as his arm kept her close. He could have been gentler for her first kiss, but he wasn't. In fact, she felt rather helpless standing there, almost dazed by the rush of sensations until she felt like she would drown in it. So this was a real kiss? It made her toes curl into the carpet and her skin tingle. Even her head felt lighter, like she would pass out any moment from either the touch of his mouth or from forgetting to breathe. Maybe it wasn't such a bad feeling after all. Actually, it felt dangerously nice being kissed by him, as if she didn't want to stop.

Almost as soon as it began, though, it was over. His hand that had been threaded through her hair let go as he backed away, slowly sitting back down in his chair. Ino stood there in a daze, her reddened lips still parted as if he were still kissing her. Then, with a start, she stood up straight while remembering what had just happened. Her hand rose up to cover her mouth, fingers touching her still tingling lips. Genma had kissed her. He sat across from her, eye looking rather guiltily down into his lap. "I probably shouldn't have done that . . ." he said softly, like he had just come to that realization.

"Why . . . why did you . . .?" the blonde asked breathlessly, unable to even finish the question.

"Because I've wanted to do that for awhile now."

Ino's mouth clamped down hard to prevent herself from gasping, but it didn't work. In fact, the sound that came from her throat sounded more like a squeak crossed with a piggish squeal than anything else. He tried not to wince, but couldn't help it at the shock on her face. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. This was what he got for taking a chance. He really shouldn't have kissed her, but he had, and it had felt good . . . except that she hadn't kissed him back, not that he had expected that much. Raising his eyes slightly, Genma watched as she slowly slid down into her seat again. If she ever put two and two together, he could only imagine her reaction then. The only thing he could count on was the possibility that her arithmetic wasn't that sharp. For being a blonde, she was rather smart after all.

Her jaw moved in silence, and dread set into the shinobi. After a moment, she asked, sounding very unsure of herself, "But . . . why did you want to . . . kiss me?"

Because he still wanted to bend her over the table and make her scream his name in ecstasy. Because after that he wanted to keep kissing her until she understood that he–

"Because you looked like you should have been kissed a long time ago."

She made the half-squeak, half-squeal sound again, a noise that struck him with an effect opposite of her laugh. Who knew that a flustered Ino sounded so . . . cute? Even looking at her sitting there in an awestruck daze, he couldn't help but think of how adorable she was, and oblivious perhaps. If only she knew, but he knew that she never would know fully, not if he could help it. He let out a low breath. He really shouldn't have kissed her, anyway.

Genma got up from the table and started gathering all of the beer cans. "We should turn in, morning fireworks and all that," he said as he piled them in his arms to take to the trash can across the room. "I should probably sleep on the floor again, too."

The blonde heard him, but didn't really pay attention. No, her mind was too far gone in a downward spiral to hear anything but her own thoughts echoing off the walls of her brain. He had actually kissed her. Her first kiss belonged to Shiranui Genma of all people. He wasn't supposed to kiss her first, Shikamaru was! She should have slapped him for it, but she hadn't. By all logic, she should have been furious, but the kiss . . . that kiss kind of felt like one worthy of being a first. She actually liked kissing him too, a feeling in and of itself that defied all rational thought. An even scarier thought occurred to her as well, that really, she wouldn't have minded at all if he kissed her again.

Ino shook her head rapidly to be rid of that thought. What was coming over her? This was Genma she was thinking about! After talking to him like a normal person, she'd come to realize that he . . . he wasn't actually that bad of a guy. That legendary charm of his that fed Konoha's rumor mill . . . it never once felt like he had tried to use it on her. A few times, even his cynical nature seemed to disappear. In spite of his many fronts, he showed that he had a heart after all, which rested hidden underneath forty years of growing up and never growing up in some ways. When he looked at her, it felt completely unlike any other gaze she'd felt. She felt examined and exposed under his eyes, and wanted, but at the same time held at a distance, like he was trying his hardest just to be her friend and partner on this mission and nothing more. And yet, there was the way he danced with her, and kissed her . . . He had actually kissed her, and she had liked it. If he wasn't trying to charm her, he'd failed miserably.

Yet, whatever was happening between them couldn't go much further than this, could it? She had someone else, and he kept her at arm's length. For some reason, though, Ino couldn't fight the possibilities from her mind. If only things were different. If only she didn't have feelings for someone else . . .

But at that moment, it was only the two of them there, and no one else. Shikamaru wasn't there and wasn't hers, so why did she keep hiding behind him as if it was some kind of excuse? What was stopping her? She was twenty-two after all, and if Sakura could fall in and out of love with men, why couldn't she? What had she scolded Genma about earlier? Not taking his own advice? Maybe it was time she took some of her own. It would be just one kiss after all. What was there to be afraid of? Just one kiss to see . . .

Ino stood up as he grabbed another armful of cans to dump. His brown eyes looked up to see her walking around the table. When she stepped closer towards him and stood almost on her toes, the ninja stopped, looking a little confused. "Ino, what are you–?"

Genma's mouth stopped as her lips pressed into his. The beer cans fell from his arms with a noisy clatter. He didn't have much of a choice as she leaned against him: either drop the empty containers or face feeling her entire body on his. His hands gripped her upper arms, keeping her at a distance as he broke away from her mouth before it became more than one short, chaste kiss. Was she trying to kill him?! He had enough on his mind without her kissing him! Looking at the blonde perplexedly, he let go of her arms and tried to back away, only to slip as his heel crushed one of the fallen cans. Genma nearly fell over his chair before catching himself, coming down with an oomph onto the seat instead. "Damnit!" he cursed, scowling in pain and embarrassment. "What the hell were you thinking trying to kiss me?!"

"You looked like you needed to be kissed . . ." Ino said rather innocently.

It took him a full ten seconds to realize that her excuse was vaguely similiar to his own lame excuse for kissing her. He shook his head quickly, clearing that thought. "Are you stupid or something?!" he yelled at her instead. "You can't just go up and kiss someone like that!"

"Like how you kissed me?" she asked, circling closer around his chair.

"Ino . . ." he threatened softly as she started to lean down over him. "It didn't mean anything . . . well, not what you think anyway. Stop trying to make this into something it's–"

His words broke off with a gulp as her arms encircled his neck. He should have tried to wiggle his way off the chair and away from her, but for some reason, getting his ass to move as she came close to his face seemed like the furthest thing from his mind. In fact, the closest thing to his mind was the fact that with one quick glance down he could see clearly down the top of her already low cut dress. This was trouble. "Ok! I'm sorry I kissed you! It was a bad mistake on my part! Really! I just thought you needed to be kissed! It wasn't even that good of a kiss! Honestly, I've done better! Can we just drop this, forget it ever happened, and go to–?"

"Shut up and kiss me, Genma."

He wasn't given much of a chance as her lips covered his open mouth, effective silencing him, except for a few remaining murmurs of protest. Those noises stopped as well when her arms constricted around his neck, not about to let him go anywhere else. Held captive, he couldn't do anything but sit there as she kissed him in a way completely unlike her first attempt. The innocence in her lips was gone. It took every ounce of self-control he could summon to keep from kissing her back like he wanted to, and he really wanted to. What the hell was wrong with him? This had to be the first time he could remember trying to resist a woman practically sitting in his lap.

Ino murmured into the kiss as her body shifted closed towards the chair, then really did sit on his lap. Her legs crossed over Genma's, then straddled his hips, the shock of her weight jolting reason back into his poor, overtaxed mind. With one subtle shift of her body against his, the ninja's heart slammed into his throat. This was very big trouble. His head yanked back, breaking the kiss as he lifted his arms to keep from touching her. Just placing even one finger on her might ruin the last of his resistance, and he could feel it. She really was trying to kill him, wasn't she? If he didn't end this soon, something they would both regret could happen. "Now would be a good time to get off of me," he warned as she tried leaning in again for another kiss.

Her lashes were lowered just enough to give a sultry glance of her blue eyes as she stubbornly stayed put. "I kind of like it here . . ."

"Ino . . . you're drunk."

"No, no more than you are," she breathed while nuzzling the side of his face as his head turned to avoid her lips. Genma's eyes searched around the room to keep from looking at her. She really was making this hard on him. His arms almost shook, wanting to give in and grab her, but he couldn't. Damnit! Why did his conscience have to kick in tonight?! Her lips kissed his cheek and jaw as he tried to fight the inevitable of his own desires. If he didn't do something soon, denying how much he did want her would become very hard, literally. "Get off me, Ino. Now," he threatened as her hands tangled in his hair. "You don't want to do this."

"Don't I?" the blonde questioned, moving her hips slightly. "It seems like this is what you want, isn't it?"

Damned straight it was as his arms lowered slightly at the temptation, but . . . "Damnit! I can't do that!" Genma yelled, unpeeling her arms from his neck by the wrists. "Stop tempting me with what I can't have!"

Ino's eyes went wide as she stared at him in shock, no longer moving on his lap. She could see him breathing hard as he stared right back at her, trying to calm down as he kept her arms pinned together over her chest. After almost half a minute, he finally exhaled and lowered his head. "Your crush is on Shikamaru . . . I am not him," he said as she saw his eyes close. "I don't . . . I'm not . . . I can't . . . I don't know what you think you want out of me, but I can't give it to you because . . . because I know I'm not the one you really want."

The shock in her eyes dimmed down to a touch of anger that she tried to keep down. "How could you know what I really want?" the blonde asked with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Maybe I don't really want to be in love either. Maybe I don't want to be inexperienced anymore either. You look down your nose at me because of it."

His grip on her forearms tightened slightly. "That isn't true!"

"Like hell it isn't! You said it yourself! There's a difference between just having sex and having a relationship and you called me naïve for not having either!" she yelled in his face while fighting back against him until they were pressed closer together. "Like I'm stupid or something for not being sure of what I do and don't want, unlike you! So maybe I don't know completely! So maybe I am a little confused! What I do know is that you kissed me first! And that you don't kiss just anyone like that! If you're going to assume that what I really want is someone else, then maybe I should assume that you really want me! And what I really want is for you to stop thinking that I don't know what I'm–!"

Ino's rant was stopped by what got the whole mess started in the first place, another kiss. Unlike the last, though, this one was gentler, a press of warm lips over hers, even if she still squeaked in surprise at the suddenness. She struggled for a moment, then stopped as his arms let go of her wrists to wrap over her back. Arms pinned, the blonde could do little else but focus on the feel of his mouth on hers. Her toes curled again, but for different reasons than before. Genma pulled away, his forehead resting against hers. "You've never kissed anyone before, have you?" he asked breathlessly.

A blush swept over her cheeks. "Does an awkward peck or two behind the Academy with boys I don't remember, and done solely on a dare, count?"

His mouth twitched into a half-hearted grin. "No."

"Well, then no, no, I haven't," Ino said as the blush turned more virulent, spreading over her pale skin. His mouth brushed against hers gently as she stiffened in his arms, then relaxed as he kissed the side of her face. Slowly, her arms reached upwards as he kissed her again, circling around his neck to get closer to him. The feeling of wanting to be so close to him seemed weird in that moment, not something she'd ever thought about before. Her body moved on its own to press hard against him as Genma's arms tightened over her back. Lips pulled away for a moment as she moaned, a higher pitched sound that could have been taken as either pain or pleasure. Given how her hips slowly moved over his, he certainly hoped it was the latter. "Open your mouth," he commanded in a whisper, ignoring how her nails dug into his collar and skin.

Her jaw went slack as she leaned towards his mouth, head tilted to the side. A hand shot up over the blonde's shoulder to cup the side of her neck in his palm, his thumb tracing the line of her chin. This couldn't be happening, and yet it was. He really was kissing her, Ino. His tongue really was sweeping inside her mouth to taste her, tangling with her own as she responded back. The muffled moan she made sounded more like a squeal as her body moved without thought against his. It was almost too good to be true, but just almost. Genma pulled away from her lips with another grin. "I knew it. I knew you tasted tart."

If she was insulted by the comment, Ino took it out on him with a nip to his throat after pulling back the red collar. His fingers tangled in her long, pale hair as she kissed and licked his skin. He tried not to squirm in the chair, but couldn't help the small grunt at feeling her unconsciously grind against him. For a virgin, she seemed to at least have all the basic concepts of foreplay down. And to think, he had written off a scenario such as this as impossible just the day before, him and the seemingly innocent blonde. The thought made him go still for a moment, reminding him again that she was inexperienced and he wasn't hallucinating. His hand tightened in her hair to pull her away until she kissed him, loosening again as she whispered breathlessly, "And you taste like spice."

Her hands slipped from around his neck to rub down his chest, feeling the muscles underneath. Genma stiffened but still held her close as the little vixen kissed the corner of his mouth. "We shouldn't be doing this," he whispered beside her ear.

"Then why aren't you stopping?" she asked naïvely enough. If he just had the courage to answer that question, then maybe some of the guilt he felt what they were doing would have lessened. His brown eyes closed as he bent down to gently bite her neck. Her body jolted with a moan, hands clawing at his shirt. "Please, don't stop now," Ino whispered with a shaky, needy tone to her voice.

Like he could put the brakes back on now even if he wanted to. His other hand dropped down from the kunoichi's back to her hips, guiding them more forcefully into a steady rhythm. She yanked the front of his shirt open, popping and ripping a few small buttons out of the way. Genma's hand traveled down her thigh, then back up, lifting the strained short skirt of her dress as his fingers slipped underneath. Her teeth bit into his shoulder as she pulled the red material out of the way, making him grunt, then groan. They shouldn't have been doing this. He shouldn't have given in to his desire to kiss her. This wouldn't go well at all, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to stop. Her bite bordered on the verge of pain when he grasped her hair in a fist, forcing her head back. Ino moaned as if she didn't mind at all.

This should not have been what her first time was like. It should have been more romantic and meaningful, not impassioned fondling on a chair in a ratty hotel, but he couldn't help himself to stop now. He should have stopped, really should have stopped. Genma kissed down her neck and over a bare collar bone, his grip on her hair letting up. "Tell me to stop," he whispered into her skin, almost sounding to her as if he was pleading. "You don't want me, so please tell me to stop."

Ino's arms clasped around his head, keeping him there as he kissed down to the low, strapless top of her dress. "Don't you dare stop!" she threatened with a hiss, pulling on his hair. "And don't you dare tell me this isn't what I want!"

Growling, the shinobi pulled the pale silk and beaded lace up over her ass with a swift tug as she gasped. His hips bucked upwards into her crotch, letting her feel exactly what she did to him. The blonde shivered, a hint of fear in her blue eyes, until she kissed him hurriedly in a mash of lips, stopping only when they knocked teeth together. Genma winced, the pain slowing him down. She laughed lightly, kissing him again softly while murmuring between pecks, "That was very–"

"Clumsy," he added quickly before sucking on her lower lip. If an insult hung on the tip of her tongue in retaliation, it got devoured in another kiss. Ino's hands tugged fruitlessly at his shirt, trying to get the red fabric to finish sliding down his shoulders, with little success. Her efforts stopped completely as she felt a finger slowly trace through her pantyhose, just along a ridge of elastic resting on the curve of her exposed rear. She sighed into his lips until he pulled away, resting his forehead over hers. "We should, probably, slow down a little?" the brown-haired man asked hesitantly, devoid of the usual laid back confidence she was used to.

The blonde's pale eyebrows arched for only a moment in confusion before baser instincts took over again. Her hands slid into his shirt, fingers gliding over slightly sweaty skin and toned muscles. Genma didn't stop her, but she certainly was making it hard on him to do this right, for her sake. Dropping his hands back, the tips of his fingers slowly caressed the outside of her thighs. Ino moaned, slowing down as well. She bit her lower lip, hips rolling into his as his touch became gradually less teasing. He tried not to groan at the sight, but couldn't hold back anymore as he held her close. "This is your fault," he muttered between kisses to her face, "yours and those blue eyes'."

Her lips quirked into a slight smile as her hands slid down his back. "Flatterer," she whispered in return.

"I've wanted you ever since you told me you hated me. Just didn't know it at the time."

Her smile turned into a broad grin, before she whispered with a giggle in her voice, "Masochist."

"Just one of my many turn-ons."

Ino's loud laugh at the obvious joke turned into a gasp as his hips moved upwards suddenly into hers. She shivered again, pushing away another rush of fear. It wasn't nerves, just uncertainty, right? Maybe Genma was right, and they should have stopped. Maybe she shouldn't have pushed him this far. Not too many years ago she had thoroughly convinced herself that saving her virginity for Shikamaru seemed only appropriate, and yet, only now did it seem like an obsolete burden to be rid of. What was the point in stopping now anyway when it felt so . . . ?

Her nails dug into his skin as she felt his lips move down to the top of her dress, kissing the top of her confined cleavage. That first kiss must have severely altered her priorities more than alcohol alone could accomplish. A day ago, the thought of letting the infamous rumored ladies man kiss her like this would have revolted her, impossible to even consider, let alone stand. Now, though, up was down and backwards went forwards. The seemingly impossible was happening, and to her. Stopping that sort of movement, by choice or not, was out of the question. Genma's hands moved over her hips and slid between their bodies, stopping to touch her breasts through the tight material. Ino leaned heavily onto him, kissing his neck as her fingers slipped down towards his pants. "It is true then?" she asked in a husky whisper. "Is it true, about all those things you can do with your . . . tongue?"

The way the word slid from the blonde's sultry voice made it sound like a lasciviously scandalous thing to say rather than just a mention of, well, a tongue, his tongue specifically. Then again, no matter what she asked at that point, he would have been turned on harder than granite. She just happened to mention the one thing he'd wanted to do to her since popping their second cans of beer. A peculiarly funny and confusing look fell across the shinobi's face, part predatory, yet undeniably slavish at the same time, as if he could choose which to feel. He must have settled on dangerously predatory as he grinned malevolently before leaning into her ear. "What exactly were these things?" he asked in a low tone.

She shuddered, not helped by how her body still moved slowly against his, craving to be touched. "That you, you know . . . that you have an 'oral fixation'," Ino admitted, watching intently as his lips moved into an amused smirk the more she spoke. "More like a fetish, really. The stories are all kind of vague . . . they mentioned that you were, um . . . really good."

"Is that what you want?"

At the time of his question, Genma's thumb teased a taunt nipple through the silk and lace, forcing a whimpered answer from her throat that wasn't terribly convincing. "Yes."

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," he asked, even if she knew he had heard her all right. Anger rising slightly, Ino's mouth opened to yell at him until the words came out more like a surprised yelp as a draft of cold air passed over her suddenly naked breasts, freed of the strapless bodice. His fingers gripped the dress material, trying to shove it further down her torso. She moaned, getting louder in pitch as he sucked on the bare mounds. Her nails dug into his sides under her grip, attempting to relieve some of the tension in her. His tongue flickered over a nipple, and Ino surrendered, no longer attempting to react on anything but instinct anymore, let alone taking the time to stop and think. Even if her voice was too busy moaning to answer him, her thoughts practically shouted a reply.

Oh yes! Please! Anything! Please! Yes! Yes! Yes! For the love of–!

"Yes!"

Suddenly, Genma's hands slipped around her waist and under her hips, lifting her up from his lap and the chair as he stood up. Moments later, Ino's butt landed on the edge of the table in a hard bump she would certainly remember in the morning. He leaned over her, forcing her to lie back. A sweep of his arm as he reached around her cleared the surface of the remaining cans with a metallic clatter at their feet. The speaker and transistor set-up got shoved to the side as well, nearly off the table until the brown-haired shinobi remembered how expensive the damned thing was and dove to the side to grab it. Yet, when the blonde kissed him again, he forgot about why he was holding onto it entirely, letting the electronics crash onto the floor with a thud.

Not one to waste time, he quickly pulled away from her lips, kissing down her throat, chest, the wrinkled dress still clinging to her abdomen, and then the top band of her pantyhose as he dropped to his knees. She writhed on top of the table, ignoring the sudden cold on her back and the stiffness of lying down on the unforgiving surface. His fingers hooked into the stretchy material and pulled it down with a swift tug, almost. As soon as he got it down to her hips, the delicate knit caught on a piece of the table. Genma blinked, tugging the hose hard until there was an audible rip. "Damn," he cursed under his breath. "Sorry?"

Ino propped herself up onto her elbows to look down at him struggling with her underwear, fighting down both confusion and annoyance when he tried to un-snag the hose. She collapsed back with an exasperated moan, "They're cheap. Just rip them."

A moment had barely passed after she said that when he harshly gripped the stocking material and ripped it right off of her legs as she gasped. Her voice stuck in her throat at the suddenness of feeling his breath on the skin of her thighs and at catching the look in his eyes from a sideways glance. Genma's mouth kissed the inside of her knee as a sinking feeling tossed her stomach. She really had said yes to him, and he really was going to–! His hands moved up the outside of her legs, making that quick flash of fear instantly forgotten.

Fingers slid underneath Ino's powder blue panties and over her hips as his mouth kissed up the inner thighs, stopping to lick the soft skin until she positively quivered in anticipation. The feeling wasn't anything she hadn't felt before from experimentally touching herself, only it felt more intense. She bit her lip to keep from involuntarily crying out as his nose nudged the side of her underwear. Yet, when she felt his tongue on the damp panties, she couldn't help the slight, high-pitched yelp anymore. Genma chuckled as her hips bucked upwards, holding her down while pulling the fabric to one side. "What was that rumor about me again?" he asked while taking in the sight of her naked folds, already wet.

The blonde shifted uncomfortable on her back on the table, as much annoyed by his question as she was turned on by his actions. His slow breath on the pale hairs covering her mound felt like a new form of torture in keeping her waiting. Even the small stubble on his cheeks grating against her thighs felt harshly good. Did she really have to answer him? Genma nuzzled her center with just a brush of lips, and Ino's nerves crumbled. "That you munch carpet and are exceptionally good at it!" she ground out between her teeth in frustration.

He snorted a chuckle one moment, then laughed out loud, pulling back from her a little. Feeling her desire die off while her frustration rose up, she kicked a heel into the brown-haired man's back. "You asked! This isn't funny or arousing! Stop toying with me already!" she screamed, digging her other heel into his spine. "And my butt's hurting on this thing!"

Genma had stopped chuckling at her anger only to burst out again at her last comment. Ino's eyes rolled, contemplating kicking him one last time and forgetting this incident ever happened. In fact, that idea seemed like the best thing to do since he'd all but killed the mood. Yet, when the kunoichi's legs moved to push him away, his chuckling finally stopped. One lick of his tongue suddenly reminded her why she was consenting to this in the first place. Her blue eyes rolled once more, but for an entirely different reason.

The sound of her voice in a low moan made the brown-haired man grin to himself. It was a sound he could never grow tired of hearing, the sound of a job well in hand, or mouth, as the case may be. She was right. He did have a bit of a reputation of being orally fixated, not only because he was so damned good at it, but also because of all those noises women made being properly serviced. Ino's voice in particular sounded so much nicer whispering his name in rapture than it did screaming at him, not that he could have helped laughing moments ago. His tongue delved between the wet folds of skin and up towards her clef, enjoying the shocked gasp as he licked underneath the hood of her clit. Seeing the blonde's body rise up slightly from the table like a puppet on strings was slightly disturbing, but inarguably erotic from his vantage point between her legs. The view always did seem better when he was on his knees.

As he'd expected, her hands grasped his hair, simultaneously trying to rip the strands out as much as she was caressing his scalp. Annoying as it was, Genma put up with it in these sorts of situations, even if his thin hair suffered continuously. The things he did for pleasure were worth some sacrifices, though. His tongue shifted sideways as the blonde's voice changed to a deeper, more soulful sound. He knew it, he just knew she tasted as tart as her tongue. A devilish chuckle filled the shinobi's throat, drowned out by the flesh. By the time they made it to the bed, Ino wouldn't know what hit her.

* * *

Something was wrong. Genma realized that much as soon as she mentioned in the middle of getting in position that his elbow was on her long hair. Something was very wrong, especially with the way Ino tensed at first after he entered her, then tried to reassure him that she was fine. No, now that it was over, he knew she wasn't fine at all. All she did was smile at him, a false one that didn't reach those cerulean eyes of hers. "Did you . . .?" he asked with trepidation, not wanting finish that question. 

"Um, was something supposed to happen?"

Genma blinked. He must have been hallucinating that question from her bruised lips. He knew getting into this that Ino was a virgin, but to ask that? It wasn't possible. He couldn't have done that. A fearful nerve was struck deep within the shinobi as he rested on his elbows above the blonde, tired, covered in sweat, and smelling of beer and sex. "Did you get off at all?" he asked, barely holding down on his mounting panic.

"Um . . . I guess it felt nice, like the thing you were doing earlier with your tongue before you stopped, but . . ."

Ino didn't need to say it as he got the message loud and clear. No, she hadn't had an orgasm, not one. Silently, he rolled off of her naked body and stared blankly at the ceiling in utter shock. Shit. "Shit," Genma cursed to himself, unable to think of anything else to say at the moment.

Beside him, the young woman did much of the same, but kept her curses to herself. How had this happened? It had started off well enough, very well in fact. The brown-haired man really was talented with that tongue. Everything felt so hot, and wet, and good, very good. Ok, she was being modest. It felt incredible, like everything Hinata bragged about when it came to sex, except he stopped just when she thought she was losing her mind. That good feeling had faded almost immediately as he picked her up and took her to the bed. After that, it didn't feel the same. Clothes were shed, much touching and kissing was had, but when it came to actual sex . . . it didn't feel right. What the hell had happened?

The only thing Ino could think of was that it was her. It had to be her, didn't it? She was the virgin after all, while Genma was one of Konoha's reigning sex gods . . . unless that was a rumor too. It had hurt at first, no denying that, but when he asked if she was fine, she wasn't about to show him any weakness by saying no. She had started this after all. She was the one that had said yes. At least he looked like he was enjoying himself well enough on top of her, even if her eyes kept drifting towards the clock the longer it dragged on. Near the end, it did feel kind of good, but it never felt great like it had before, as though something was missing from her experience that hadn't been left out of his.

It her fault, wasn't it? Did she expect too much from a man she didn't love? The thought that she really didn't love the brown-haired shinobi next to her was like a splash of cold water to her nerves. It was all an illusion, wasn't it? It had to be for her to think that she was actually in love with Shiranui Genma in such a minute amount of time. She'd just given away her virginity to a man she didn't love at all. She couldn't love him since she loved Shikamaru, after all. It was lust she had felt for him, and compassion after hearing him talk. That was it. That had to be it. She couldn't . . .

She took one brief glance over at the naked figure next to her and turned away onto her side. What had she been thinking to let this happen? Maybe she was drunk from the beer, or her pride had goaded her to do it. Maybe it was just curiosity, the tiredness of being so innocently naïve, except now that she'd had a strong dose of reality, she wanted her innocence back. How was she ever going to look Genma in the eyes again? At that moment, all the blonde wanted was for the situation to go away, to believe she hadn't made a grave mistake after all. Maybe in the morning, everything would be all right. "I'm tired," Ino said in a painfully small voice.

A hand brushed her naked back. She stiffened at the touch. His fingers hesitated, then moved away. Moments later, she felt the bed shake, then rise slightly, as Genma got up. Then, she heard the bathroom door close and lock before she let out the breath she'd been holding.

This was a mistake, a terrible, horrible mistake that even she couldn't fix. The only conciliation was that now she understood why her best friend was so disillusioned in all things romantic. Sex really was all it was cracked up as being, and had nothing to do with love at all. Curling up on her side, Ino shivered slightly, trying to fight back against that same disillusionment. Everything would be fine in the morning. Everything would be fine when she woke up. This was just a dream too, wasn't it? After a night where everything seemed so unreal, it had to be a dream. Slowly, the kunoichi's blue eyes closed, her hands balling into painful-looking fists beside her mouth while she attempted to drift off to sleep. "Everything . . . is fine."

* * *

In the dark bathroom, Genma sat down on the toilet and buried his face in his hands. He was such a fucking screw up, wasn't he? He really was a coward, retreating like this. Giving a miserable groan, the shinobi doubled over, his elbows on his knees. This was what he had been afraid of all along, why he didn't want to touch Ino in the first place. He'd actually taken a woman's virginity. He hadn't done that before, ever. All the other women he'd been with had been experienced. And in his attempt, he'd screwed it up, big time. The blood evidence of it was still on those sheets and on his body. She hadn't gotten off at all, not even once. She probably hadn't even enjoyed it. Then again, he hadn't enjoyed his first time too much either. That wasn't an excuse though for not making her first foray into sex something special, unlike his own experience. 

He slammed the heel of his palm into his temple, internally cursing his many mistakes. He should have tried harder. He shouldn't have rushed it. He should have gotten her off once at least with oral rather than stopping to get down to business. He shouldn't have been thinking with his cock as he actually did care about her, a lot. He should have slowed down. He shouldn't have let all those little things get to him, like the teeth-knocking or putting his elbow on her hair. He should have realized it sooner when he had penetrated her. He should have tried to make it perfect. He should have made it all about her needs and not his. Genma sat back up again, rubbing his eyes hard to get the images of what had happened out of his head.

Ino . . .

He'd let her down, severely. As much as it was a blow to his pride, it was also a blow to his personal feelings as he realized that it was just sex for her in the end and nothing else. He'd been courageous for once in a relationship and look what had happened. She turned away from him. That action had said enough. It was just sex between them, nothing more. What the hell had he been thinking? With his track record, how could he ever entertain the idea that she would feel the same as he did? It wasn't like he even came out and said it, just kissed her instead. Actions were supposed to speak louder than words after all, but he should have said something!

He shouldn't have been so weak and given into her in the first place. She had sounded so confident in what she wanted that he didn't know any better, but he should have. She was a virgin after all. She didn't know what she was doing. He never should have had hope in the first place. How could he be so stupid? That last thought made Genma take a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He really was a stupid asshole after all, no matter how much he wanted to be the nice guy everyone knew.

Standing up finally, he flicked on the harsh light and winced at his reflection in the mirror over the sink. Taking only one second to take in his haggard appearance, he turned on the water, grabbed the soap and a washcloth, and then started to clean up his mess. Finished, he left the stained rag in the sink, turned off the light, and opened the door slightly. Ino remained on the bed, turned away from him still and nude. A dark stain was smeared on the white sheets where they'd been. Standing in the doorway, Genma stared at her, unable to look anywhere else. She looked lovely when she was sleeping, calm, so unlike the hellion he was used to during the day. He'd never get to touch her once more now, and when the mission was over, he'd never be able to watch her sleep ever again. His fist balled up, clenched tightly.

Slowly, he let go and unclenched his hand. What was the use in getting angry over things he could not change? It didn't keep him from feeling the tinge of bitterness in knowing that this situation was the fault of his mistakes. If only things had been different . . . but nothing was ever different. If only he wasn't such a coward . . .

That word reignited the shinobi's anger. He wasn't some sniveling coward around women, damnit! He would not be reduced to feeling like that! He would tell her how he felt! Right now! Even if she rejected him, then at least he would have said it! He would tell her he . . .

He loved her.

Genma slumped slightly in defeat at the realization that he did, truly, love the blonde young woman lying on the bed. He also knew it wasn't one of those feelings he got about a woman that would go away as soon as she was gone either. He would be miserable, pathetically miserable, enormously miserable, Kakashi-miserable, for a long time coming, maybe even forever. That was how he knew he really loved Ino, because the memory of this one-night mistake would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. The only way to make it stop would be to tell her, wasn't it?

He took a hesitant step away from the door and towards the bed. He had to tell her. Moving faster, Genma knelt on the mattress and reached over to her side of the sheets. The back of his fingers brushed her back once more, and Ino stiffened just the same. "Go away," she murmured, sounding half-asleep already. "Lemme sleep."

"I have to tell you something."

"Morning."

Biting the inside of his lip to keep from getting pissed, Genma ground out through his teeth, "No, I need to tell you now."

"You've done enough talking for one night," Ino grumbled. She quickly grabbed one of the pillows that had been tossed from the bed earlier and shoved it behind her back, almost on top of his hand. "Just let me sleep," she said one last time, clearly but softly at the same time.

He sunk down on the back of his legs. The wall between them was back in place, metaphorically at least, if not a little literally. He wouldn't be telling Ino anything else tonight, if ever perhaps. Reluctantly, Genma crawled backwards off the bed to grab the rest of the pillows off the floor. One by one he put the fluffy barrier back to where it once was, then pulled up the covers over them both. They slept that night turned away from each other, and not soundly either. After all, how soundly could one sleep when filled with regret and longing?

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 13 of Dirty Deeds, Shooting the Afterglow. 


	13. Shooting the Afterglow

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 13 – Shooting the Afterglow

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

Sakura's leg cramped from not moving on the bed for most of the night, unable to sleep but unwilling to move anywhere else. It took her a minute to massage the soreness out of her muscles as she sat naked on the edge of the mattress. Behind her, Minagawa Hiro slept on, oblivious still to the set-up in progress. The kunoichi frowned at the poor, unconscious man who was about to get a rude awakening. She also frowned at how this had all come about in Kakashi's brilliant scheme, even if there had been one unexpected twist. She squinted in the glaring light of the sunrise, looking for movement among the tall buildings. Who was she kidding? He wouldn't be out there now to watch over her, not after what they'd done last night.

It had been a mistake; one hell of an orgasmic mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. She shouldn't have let him talk her into it, but she let him anyway. What could have possessed her to say yes, let alone strip for him? Then again, she knew the answer to that one as a blush crossed her cheeks. Yet, just as quickly as the blush came, it disappeared as she sighed. What happened between them was a mistake, if only because it meant nothing. If the encounter had been about anything else but the mission he would have stayed until dawn, but Kakashi never came back for her that night. That thought had been the single thing circulating through Sakura's head the entire time she laid there, that what had happened between them the night before meant nothing to him. It became so engrained in her rationale that she barely noticed how cold of an explanation it was for something that had felt so incredibly hot at the time: his lips on her skin, his hands touching her. Even lying there on the bed afterwards, she could still almost feel it all, tormenting her in remembrance. He couldn't touch her like that and feel nothing, could he?

But still, if what had happened was not about their business, then why did he leave?

No, the simple conclusion was that it was just for the mission after all; that was the reason Sakura's rational side could accept, even if her heart couldn't. The dull little ache in her chest at the thought of her older partner wouldn't go away. She should have just gotten over it and fully accepted that they were just friends. This was Kakashi she was thinking about after all. She didn't . . .

Sakura let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding, an edge in her voice making the passing air sound more like a sigh than a simple exhalation. None of it mattered now. All that mattered was completing this mission. If the Copy Nin's timing of the drug's effect was right, then Hiro would wake up at any moment, and if his assessment of Takara's paranoia was right, she would be entering the apartment just in time to be a part of the festivities, yet much still needed to be done before they were discovered.

She had already cleaned up the bandages used to bind her breasts the night before, the cotton roll in the back pocket of her skimpy shorts, along with the drug vial. Her white panties were nowhere to be found, so she could only assume that Kakashi had taken them with him. She wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing either. With a slight blush staining her cheeks, Sakura moved on. It didn't take her long to rearrange the sheets until the bed looked very much slept in, with a smear of lubricant on the linens to make it look very much used. Nearly forgetting about it, she grabbed Kakashi's old shirt from where she left it on the bed, resisting the urge to smell the fabric one last time before dropping it to the side. A quick kick sent her clothes across the floor, trailing towards her spot on the bedside followed by a little wine spilt on the carpet for added effect. Quickly looking around the room, she didn't notice anything that would give the impression of something else having happened . . . except complete debauchery. She couldn't make the place look more sin-filled short of breaking things. There was only one thing left for her to do now.

After sitting down on the bed again, the kunoichi's hands moved in two sets of seals, one right after the other. After the first, her hair turned back to black and straight again while her eyes changed back to a serene dark blue, the image of Hanako, her henge. Upon completing the second set of seals, the small amount of smoke cleared to reveal more definite changes in Sakura's figure. Her eyebrows arched slightly as she took in her new body. Kakashi was right after all. She really did look boyish rather than overly masculine when using the Sexy no jutsu. Trying not to think of the implications, Sakura went back to lying down on the bed while rearranging the sheets around her male body.

All she had to do now was sit, wait, and hope Takara would not be late.

* * *

It was too early in the morning for there to be someone at the door of Nakamura Nobu's mansion, but there was a knock and a buzz of the bell nonetheless. Groggy after the previous night's 'activities', Takara ignored it and rolled over to nestle back into the warmth of male body heat. It couldn't be anyone too important. The maids would get it eventually, along with the shades. She pulled the black sheets up over her head, attempting to block out the bright light of dawn. Drifting back off to sleep, missing her date with Hiro the night before seemed like a million miles away. He was the absolute last thing on her mind at that point, but as she felt a female hand on her back, shaking her to wake up, Takara realized he probably should have been her first thought.

Not protesting, the blonde rolled over to see a maid in black and white uniform standing over her with a letter in her hands. "Ma'am, this just arrived for you," she said, holding out the envelope.

Takara sat up quickly, letting the sheet fall away as she snatched the letter from the maid. Her brow furrowed as she read the address on the outside and then tore the envelope open, pulling out a single piece of paper. After a moment of reading it, the blonde quickly folded the page back up again. Her brown eyes focused coldly on the unfortunate maid who paled under the angry glare. "Ma'am?"

"Who sent this?" Takara asked, almost hissing through her clenched teeth.

"He didn't leave a name . . ."

"Then who delivered it?"

"It was a private courier. He didn't say anything else, just that it was for you," the maid quailed, shrinking back. The dark look on the blonde's face didn't let up as she ripped the letter and the envelope up completely. Standing up from the bed, she tossed the shreds carelessly into a nearby waste basket on her way towards her closet in the corner of the room. "Help me get dressed," she ordered the maid as she rifled through the racks of clothes. "I'm going out."

"But ma'am, isn't it a bit early?"

"Don't question me!" she whispered harshly as she spun around, trying not to wake Nobu as he slept on. "I need to be somewhere else, right now, so do as I say and don't ask about what I do."

"Yes, ma'am," the maid said as she quietly moved towards a chest of drawers, pulling one open to reveal packed layers of underwear. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she watched as her master's live-in mistress rejected dress after dress by shoving them down the rack angrily, one after another, as if she was venting out some of her frustration on the beautiful garments. Even if she was just a maid, she could recognize bad news from the way her employer behaved, and that letter must have been terrible news. Come to think of it, the past couple of weeks had probably been filled with bad news for the blonde as every time she saw the woman, she was madder than a hornet whose nest had been messed with. Not that Takara was normally a pleasant woman, ever, except around rich men like the master of the house, but lately, she'd been more unpleasant than usual to all the women working in Nobu's household. Something was indeed going sour in the blonde's scheme.

In fact, the staff had been placing bets on how much longer the mistress their master kept would last. She had already laid thirty down that she would be out of their hair by the end of the month. At this rate, she would have to change her bet to before the end the week, and not soon enough, as far as she was concerned. Like all the other maids in Nobu's household, she looked forward to the mistress's inevitable downfall with relish, and looked forward even more to packing all those beautiful clothes in suitcases when was eventually tossed out on her rear. Let her be horrible to her own maids in her own house, if she could even afford a place in this part of Snowfall, let alone people to staff it. Turning back to her work, the maid secretly smiled to herself at Takara's increasingly frustrated display, whispering under her breath, "Serves her right."

* * *

Sakura's eyes glanced over to the clock on the bedside table, watching the numbers slowly tick by with increasing anxiety. Where was that woman? Kakashi had reassured her that the blonde witch would be there by the time Hiro woke up from the drug's effects. Neither was she there yet, nor did the man sound any closer to consciousness than he did fifteen minutes ago. He snored rather loudly as the thought crossed her mind, as if to prove her point. The kunoichi's eyes rolled as she tossed in the bed away from him. Why couldn't this just be over? All this waiting would drive her nuts if she had to stick it out any longer! This was all his stupid idea anyway!

As she found herself silently cursing the very existence of her silver-haired partner, she didn't notice the bed dip behind her until it was too much of a difference to ignore. Sakura instantly went still as she heard a gruff murmur right behind her, too low to be anything but male. Hiro had moved. She rolled back slightly to see where he'd gone to when the bed shifted again and her bare back bumped into an equally bare chest. An arm touched over her side and slid around her waist as she held her breath.

_Well, this wasn't supposed to happen_, Sakura thought with a perplexed look on her face, but she supposed it would work well with their plan. It would work even better though if he didn't wake up either, or discover the goods too early, two things that seemed more than likely to happen the longer he stayed snuggled up to her. She took a quick shallow breath to try and quell the rising panic in her throat, then quickly grabbed Hiro's wrist before it wandered too far down her transformed body. Now was not the time to lose it. She was a shinobi of the Leaf, a pupil of the Fifth Hokage herself. She could handle just about anything thrown at her, including snoring, touchy-feely creeps.

The sound of his nasal passages rumbled resoundingly again in her ear, drowning out her own thoughts. He murmured incoherently, and Sakura's eyes drifted towards the clock, watching as another minute ticked by. The irony of unconsciously being cuddled by Hiro as well wasn't lost on her given that Kakashi had done the same thing the morning before. Maybe it was a male thing to do when naked and in bed with a woman. Though, comparing the two, being snuggled by the silver-haired man made her skin crawl substantially less so. Thinking back on the memory, it had actually felt rather nice and warm being wrapped up by his arms, the feeling of his even breath tingling on the back of her neck. Losing herself in remembrance, her eyes drifted closed while trying to imagine that it was really Kakashi holding her then and there, and not Hiro. Even though it felt slightly wrong to pretend, the illusion was far easier to accept than the truth that it really was her ex-teacher whom she wanted to hold her like that instead. Anything, really, to make the time go faster was a comfort to her.

Just as Sakura drifted off to sleep again, her hand unconsciously let go of his wrist.

* * *

Hiro snored and buried his face in his bedmate's long, dark hair, murmuring in his sleep once more. It felt so warm being wrapped around a woman that he didn't want to ever wake up again. He felt much too nice to even think about getting up because once he did, he knew his head would be splitting. Something had happened the previous night that felt marvelous. Usually nights he got drunk never felt this good when waking up the morning after. Yet, the bright light was too brilliant to completely ignore as he tried to will himself back to sleep, with little success. Finally cracking an eye open, the dark hair his face laid buried in was unfamiliar; not unpleasant, just unfamiliar. Who was this?

He knew he had brought someone home the night before who wasn't Takara, but he couldn't remember her name. Hana? Hina? Hota? The more he tried to think of the name, the worse his hangover headache started to feel. Wait! Hanako! Yamada Hanako! That was it! . . . but what had he done with her?

He groaned, trying to remember what had happened with the woman in his bed the night before. For some reason, his recollection was foggier than usual. He knew he passed out on the bed at one point, but apart from that . . . he couldn't remember the events clearly. They'd been drinking more wine, they'd done more talking, and then . . . Hiro's hand felt the warm flesh under his fingers and froze. They were naked in his bed. A memory popped into his head, and rather vividly at that, of him taking off her clothes, except for when he got to her underwear. Obviously something had happened after that, but he couldn't remember the details, he just knew he felt good.

Since she was still in his bed and not already walking out the door, it must have been real good. A lecherous smile crossed the dark-haired man's face as he debated with himself how to wake up his new mistress. The hand he held over her abdomen gently brushed her skin, seeking some sort of reaction. All she did was groan, lying still again. For a moment, her voice had sounded a little too low to be feminine, but he must have been hearing things. Maybe she had a frog in her throat from crying out his name previous night. She felt soft enough in his arms after all, if a bit muscular in other areas compared to either Jun or Takara. Then again, he did seem to have a thing for women who could kick his ass. His hand moved down lower over her hips, stopping as the somewhat bony shape he felt at the junction of her leg and hip.

That was . . . odd, to say the least. The woman murmured in her sleep, definitely sounding very low for a female, which was very odd indeed. Something was definitely wrong, yet he couldn't exactly place a finger on what. The more he tried to concentrate on his recollection of the night before, the more his headache grew. Why couldn't he remember it clearly? He'd taken her clothes off, and then . . .

Another memory suddenly flashed through Hiro's mind, one that made his brown eyes widen in horror. He remembered it all. No! It couldn't be possible! That couldn't have happened! . . . or could it have?

Somehow, he couldn't stop his curiosity from finding out as his hand dove underneath the sheets and between his bed partner's legs. What he found not only made him scream, but also tumble backwards, head over heels, and off the edge of the bed.

She was a he.

"I–! I–! I slept with a man?!" Hiro yelled, springing up naked from the floor to stare at the long-haired man, woman, thing in his bed in shock. "I thought you were a girl!"

A sour expression crossed Sakura's henge's face as she turned towards her irate bed partner. "You have no idea how often I get that response."

Hiro's eyes widened in shock, until they were almost as large as his entire face. This couldn't be happening. He'd never, ever sleep with another man! He liked women! How could he not tell the difference?! "But your name, you said your name was Hanako!" he yelled, watching as the young man continued to lie on the bed as if nothing was unusual.

"Actually, it will be Hanako, as soon as I get my operation done," she said, cutting short a slightly vicious smile that had sprung up when Hiro's back turned as he looked away. It took all of Sakura's willpower to keep from bursting out laughing while watching the naked executive groan and rub his face, as if trying to wake himself up from a very bad dream. Maybe Kakashi was right about her acting skills. She wasn't too bad at this. He was actually buying it all, as improbable of a situation as it was. "I don't believe this . . ." Hiro mumbled to himself, almost pulling on his hair. "This isn't happening. This can't be–"

"Is something wrong?"

His gaze slowly turned back towards the nubile man occupying his bed, as if finally realizing he was still there. Something was very, very wrong with this entire situation as his brown eyes narrowed on the man. "Who are you?" Hiro asked, staring at him. "Your real name this time."

"Yamada Taro. My parents thought it would be funny," Sakura said as she crossed her henge's arms over his very flat chest, pouting. To anyone else, the pose may have seemed cute and coy, but to Hiro, the longer he looked at the person he'd mistaken for a female, the more the man seemed to be anything but cute. "Get out, Taro."

A look of mock horror crossed the young man's face, followed by a gasp and a shriek. "You're kicking me out already?! After what we shared last night?! Don't I mean anything to you?!"

"No, you don't! You're–! You're–!"

"I'm a what?"

"You're a guy! I don't do other guys! I must have been drunk! Very, very drunk to think you were a woman!"

"You weren't that drunk when you brought me home to do me!"

"That's because I thought you had boobs and a vagina!" Hiro screamed back before stopping cold. Half a second later, the man dove for the floor, picking up his discarded robe. Fussing with it in his flailing hands, he ended up just wrapping it around his waist to hide some of his nudity. Sitting on the bed watching the display, Sakura had to fight down another grin before breaking the silence that came in the wake of the shouting. "I knew it. Serves me right for going home with a guy that's too straight."

Hiro glared as 'Taro' got up from the bed and stretched languidly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're all hung up on women. All that whining last night about your ex-wife and your girlfriend was making me nauseous. Really, if you hadn't been so good at kissing, I might have left," Sakura said with a glance over her henge's shoulder and a flutter of his eyelashes. "You need counseling."

The appalled look on Hiro's face was worth the complete wrongness of that statement, nearly making her want to break character once again just to laugh. The poor man, he looked like his head was about to explode if he kept holding his breath like that. Instead, when he finally did breathe, it came out in a grunt before he started to stalk off. "Get dressed and get out. This never happened . . ."

Sakura nearly cursed to herself as he started to leave the bedroom. Where the hell was Takara to see this? There wasn't a point to all these dramatics unless the blonde witch was there to be a part of them! Mentally cursing Kakashi for this stupid idea once again, the kunoichi-in-disguise reached for her shorts and started to pull them on while taking her sweet time doing it on purpose. Shit. This couldn't be going wrong now, could it?

Just as Hiro stood in the doorway of the bedroom, there was a scraping in the keyhole of the apartment door. It was Takara. It had to be her at this early hour in the morning. The one-eyed bastard was right about the witch after all. For a moment, the henged kunoichi let her mouth drop open in shock at her good luck, which was followed quickly by a smile before she shouted across the bedroom, "What do you mean this never happened?!"

The dark-haired man whirled on her, nearly dropping his half-wrapped robe in surprise. "Would you keep it down?!" Hiro hissed in a harsh whisper. "She could hear you!"

Dropping her shorts and tossing them aside, Sakura, as the long-haired young man, walked briskly across the room and almost threw herself at the other man, clinging like a leech as Hiro tried to fight her off. "Please don't say that! Last night was so special to me! I thought it was special to you too!"

"Get off of me!"

"How can you be so ashamed of the beauty we had?! How can you be ashamed of me?!"

Both of them could hear the apartment door opening, but neither stopped in the midst of their tussle to pay attention. "I said get off of me!" Hiro yelled while trying to shove Sakura's henge away.

In the middle of their fighting, his feet slipped off the rug and on the hardwood floor, knocking over the both of them in the process. Both of them fell to the hard ground with a thud, landing on top of one another. After a moment of groaning, the angry vice president went right back to yelling instead of trying to untangle himself. "Are you insane?!"

"I thought you liked me?!"

"I like women!"

"You can like men too!"

"Get off–!"

Whatever Hiro would have shouted at 'Taro' next stopped the moment he felt his mouth on top of his. He– He was kissing another man! And it was happening while he was sober! This couldn't be happening to him! The thought and the act together seemed to paralyze him, shocking what was left of his coherent thoughts while rooting him to his spot on the floor.

Meanwhile, Sakura did her best to not throw up in the inside of her mouth. Kissing her target went against all the principles she had regarding dealing with sticky situations, even if it wasn't really 'her' doing the kissing in this case. It didn't help that she absolutely hated the man and the kiss in general, and was only doing it for shock value it would have whenever Takara decided to turn the corner, come towards the bedroom and–

A subtle little throat-clearing sound instantly seemed to bring reason back to Hiro's mind as he broke the kiss with a shocked start. His head then whipped towards the source of the noise with an even more startled expression. Standing in the hallway, looking perfectly immaculate in a white dress and white fur coat, was Takara. Sakura watched the minute changes on her face with each passing second as the woman seemed to absorb the sight before her. To anyone else that didn't know the art of the non-reaction, like Hiro, they would have thought she looked rather blasé about catching her boyfriend with another man, but Sakura knew better. From the way the blonde's eyes were a little too wide, her jaw a little too clenched, her nostrils a little too flared, and her knuckles a little too white, Sakura knew that underneath the thin veneer of civility was a woman so angry that the flesh would melt off her face first before she showed it.

In the utter, dreadful silence, Hiro's jaw moved up and down like a fish gasping for air, only he was suffocating for an explanation. Slowly, the 'man' he was on top of started to slide out from underneath, inching along the floor to escape back into the bedroom. Whatever was about to happen between the two lovers, 'Taro' obviously didn't want to be in the crossfire. And yet, the nubile young man stopped when the woman's brown eyes fell on him, nervously waving back as he broke the silence with a small laugh. "Good morning?"

"Takara, I have an explanation for all this . . ."

Her stare instantly turned back towards Hiro, as if daring him to do just that, but after a moment of thought, all he could do was still gape at her. "I really don't think that's necessary," she said calmly, too calmly as she walked closer to the pair. "In fact, I insist on not hearing one."

"But, Takara-! I woke up with another man in my bed! This isn't something that normally happens!"

"I can see that."

"You have to believe me! I was drunk last night! Very, very drunk!"

". . . I can smell that."

'Taro' snorted in derision, slowly getting back up to his feet. "This must be the girlfriend."

Both turned towards him, each murderously angry at what they were seeing. "I thought I told you to get out?" Hiro growled.

Takara's eyes narrowed into dagger-sharp slits. "Who are you?"

"I am just leaving," Taro answered with a wave of his hand before pirouetting away from them both and padding back towards his pile of clothes. The blonde continued to stare at him though, even following him into the bedroom. Hiro scrambled back to his feet to follow her, wrapping the fallen robe back over his waist in the process. "If you just give me a chance, I'm sure I can explain all this."

She stared back at Sakura's henge, repeating her previous question. "Who is he?"

"Um . . . that's Taro. I thought he was a woman . . ."

"Hiro . . ." she muttered under her breath, nearly whispering to him. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

With her back turned to them both as she slipped her shorts back on, Sakura bit her lip to keep from laughing. She could only imagine the incredulous thoughts running through Takara's head at that moment, and that was probably a good thing. If she could read the blonde's thoughts, she just might die of laughter right there. Instead, the kunoichi concentrated as hard as she could on getting her clothes back on and getting out of there. Her work was done.

They were both buying the illusion seamlessly, as if the genjutsu in Hiro's head had actually happened, even if he still tried to argue that nothing had occurred between the two off them. She could hear the couple whispering furiously back and forth, one trying to give his reasons while the other kept interrupting him with more pointed questions about what happened. No matter what he said, Takara didn't seem to believe him as Sakura heard her heels thumped on the carpet as actively looking for evidence. She could almost hear his pulse becoming more and more volatile with each excuse he floundered through. "Really, nothing happened, I swear! If something had, I would–!"

"Then why are there used condoms in the waste basket?"

A stunned silence passed between the arguing pair until the half-naked man on the other side of the bed broke it with a sudden burst of laughter. Two sets of eyes stared at his back with equal amounts of contempt, making him roar in mirth again each time he glanced over his shoulder at them. Eventually, the young man did stop laughing, but remained all smiles as he quipped, looking directly at Hiro, "If she dumps you, will you call me?"

The older, dark-haired man, still naked under the wrapped robe, suddenly forgot that fact as he sprung across the bed with an angry yell. Springing up from the bed, 'Taro' dodged out of the way of the lunging man, who crashed face first into the floor. "Hiro!" Takara yelled as she rounded past him on her heels, bending to help her fallen boyfriend.

Groaning in pain, Hiro clumsily tried to get up to his knees before slipping back down to his elbows. The poor man glared daggers at the cause of all his early morning suffering, the root of this disaster standing before him with a wide-eye curious look of genuine concern. Why oh why did he ever allow such a devilish, deceiving creature into his home, let alone into his bed? The very thought made him want to obliterate the other man's very existence just to hide his shame. "Get out . . ." he said too slowly, too lowly to be anything but truly dangerous.

The murderous look in his dark brown eyes was enough to make both women, including the kunoichi in disguise who was used to dangerous men, take a step back. "O– ok, I'm going," the young man said hesitantly. "I know when I'm not wanted anymore."

Sakura barely resisted the impulse to bolt from the apartment as she turned away from them both, quickly pulling the sleeveless shirt over her head and down her torso as she went. She nearly forgot her coat in her haste, but grabbed it quickly before walking out the front door. As soon as she was in the hallway, the kunoichi froze, her back pressed against the apartment door. She had done it. They really had bought it, hadn't they? As unbelievably improbable as it had seemed, Hiro bought the idea that he had slept with a man, and so did Takara. Despite the small amount of anxiety she felt, and disbelief, Sakura couldn't help a small laugh, clamping a hand over her mouth before it turned into loud peals of uncontrollable laughter.

Yet, her mirth stopped as soon as she heard the first shout from within the apartment since her departure. "Just leave me alone, Takara!"

Sakura turned sideways, her ear pressed on the door to hear the rest of the conversation. "It's alright, Hiro, I . . . I understand you have needs I cannot satisfy."

"Needs?! You think this screw up is about my needs?! I– I slept with a man for goodness sake! I do not like other men! I am not gay!"

"Well, what else could it be then? I wouldn't mind if you were bi."

"I am not bi! I was drunk, ridiculously drunk, and that's the only explanation I can think of! I'm sorry! I didn't–"

"It's alright, Hiro. I understand."

"But I slept with someone else! Someone that wasn't you! Aren't you the least bit . . . upset?"

"I understand, unlike Jun, that you aren't always going to be faithful to me, even with members of the opposite sex. You have needs too."

"Would you stop talking about my 'needs'! Why aren't you angry with me!?"

"Because I sincerely don't mind! Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes, yes, it is! Women go crazy when their men cheat on them! My wife went nuts over you! And yet, you, you, you're acting like it's the most natural thing in the world for you to walk in here and see me kissing another naked man!"

"Well, I admit to being a bit surprised, and a touch angry, but now that it's over . . . Do really you want me to be completely pissed at you and to throw things, and all that dramatic angst? I really don't see a need to be that angry, the more I think about it."

". . . but you're not angry over me . . ."

Sakura could barely hear Hiro's words, but they made her heart swell with pride. Kakashi was right, absolutely right. Any other woman that cared about her man would have been irrationally irate at witnessing what Takara had seen that morning, but she acted exactly as if she didn't care. He was finally starting to see the woman for what she was.

"Hiro, that isn't exactly fair. I'm trying to be mature, and rational, and–"

"Go home, Takara."

"But I'm just trying to–"

"I said go home! I don't want to see you today! I don't know why you're here, but go!"

"But I came to apologize for last night! I didn't expect to see you so, well . . . busy."

"I don't want to know the hows or whys of that either! If you had just been there last night, none of this would have happened!"

"But that's why I came to explain! I was . . . Well, you see . . ."

". . . why don't I believe you?

"Just give me a moment to explain! We still need to talk about–"

"I don't want to talk about any of it! Ever since I started 'talking' to you, my life's gone downhill! I may not have had happiness, but at least I had my own self-respect! Now look at me! I don't–! I don't want to do this anymore!"

"You can't mean that."

"But what if I do mean it? . . . I've had enough talking for one day. I . . . I need to think. I want to forget this morning ever happened. I don't want to see you right now, so just go."

"But Hiro–!"

"Don't make me repeat myself, Takara . . . Just, go home."

The discussion was over as she heard the woman's heels getting closer and closer towards the apartment door. Sakura flung herself away from the door and towards the staircase at the end of the hall, hurrying down the steps before Takara walked out into the hallway. She must not have been too quick in those black thigh boots as she heard a feminine voice behind her. "Stop right there."

The young man on the steps stopped, turning halfway towards the blonde as she stood in the middle of the hallway. "Can I help you?" he asked, appearing to be scowling at her.

Takara's usually warm eyes narrowed into slits as she walked closer to him. "I don't know what happened today, but I know that it's not normal . . . Who are you?"

"Yamada Taro. Hiro already–"

"Who are you really?" she asked pointedly, coming to a stop at the top step. "We both know you're up to something and it wasn't just sleeping with one of my many boyfriends."

Even if her heart nearly stopped at the accusation, Sakura didn't let it show on her disguise's face, first staring blankly, then quizzically, at Takara. "I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, but you obviously must be a psycho in pumps," he said dismissively with a wave of the hand before turning to continue walking down the stairs.

'Taro' didn't get very far though, as the blonde snagged his long hair in her grasp, harshly pulling him back up the stairs by the roots. Despite all of her desire to deck the bitch right then and there, Sakura knew she couldn't without completely outing herself and her mission. Instead, she fought back as weakly and as girlishly as she could, letting Takara pin her against the wall. "Let go of me, psycho! I don't want your screw-up boyfriend! You can keep him!" he yelled in her face, struggling limply.

"Who are you working for?"

"No one but myself. Would you get off already?!"

"Then why did you sleep with Hiro?"

"Because I thought he liked me!"

"Why don't I believe you?!"

"Because you want to blame someone other than yourself!" 'Taro' accused back. Takara's hand sprung open, letting him go as she backed up a step. The cold, hard look remained in her brown eyes, yet she also looked like she would burst into tears at any moment. If it had been any other woman standing across from her, Sakura might have felt some sympathy for her. But this was Takara she stood across from, the witch that nearly had her killed on top of having seduced Jun's husband. She didn't feel the tinge of sympathy at all, only the urge to twist the knife a little more.

"I heard all of what he said. I also know he's married since he talked about his ex-wife last night . . . I don't know what you think happened, but I have no interest in him now. I also think you deserve being dumped by him too. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a gold digger getting thrown out on her ass."

A hard slap stung across his cheek. Sakura didn't even think of the consequences and slapped back hard enough to send the blonde reeling back and against the hand rail. They stared at each other across the same step with hatred until Takara hesitantly took one step down and then another. "Stay away from my man," she whispered harshly, "and never come near me again."

"Gladly."

Turning away, the blonde in white angrily walked down the stairs, huffing the whole way to the landing and then out of sight.

As soon as she was gone, Sakura let out the relieved breath she had been holding. What in the world had gotten into that woman? Ok, so maybe she was a bit mean, but still, you don't just slap someone and expect to get away with it! Scowling still, she reached up and rubbed her bruised cheek. That slap would leave a mark for an hour or two for sure, but not as big as the one she'd given Takara. The blonde's paranoia was starting to get to her. What if she did know about them, the two shinobi working for Jun? If she did know, why hadn't she outed them? Something was off with Takara, with Hiro, with just about every aspect of their mission, but she couldn't place her finger on what.

Her own problems weren't helping her ease of mind either. Sighing to herself, she walked up the stairs and towards the elevators while pulling on her black coat before idly pushing the button. Time to go report their stunning victory to Kakashi and plan their next step, and yet, instead of being happy as she normally would be, Sakura's stomach turned in knots. How was she going to face him after last night? What would he say? What would she say, if anything? She could almost hear his voice in her head, excuse after excuse for everything, and she could almost see herself nodding right along. Saying nothing was probably for the best. It was better for them both if things remained the same, wasn't it? That reasoning stuck in her head as the elevator bell rung, the doors sliding open.

It was better for them both if they just pretended the night before had meant nothing, or better yet, if it hadn't even happened. It was too good of a memory to share with someone else.

* * *

Ino stared out the window. She wasn't used the sight when waking up since it wasn't the side she usually slept on for the past month. The sun was just rising over the skyline, making the snow everywhere shine like crystals in the dawn. It was a blinding sight, but she looked on anyway, anything to push the disappointment of the previous night from her mind. It hadn't worked out like she'd thought it would. She'd thought one night with Genma would cure her of her fixation on romantic love and help her become a mature, reasonable woman, but it hadn't. All it had been was empty sex, nothing like what her fellow kunoichi raved about and what she craved to have. It wasn't love, at least to her it wasn't. It had been a mistake that had cost her virginity, and possibly much more than that. Her father had always warned her about compromising her principles in their line of work, and now that warning came back to her again along with the nauseating notion that her dad was right.

There was one nagging thought though that occupied the kunoichi's mind the most, one question she couldn't think of the answer to. Why didn't it work out between them? Genma was the greatest lover in all of Konohagakure if one believed all the gossip. It should have been at least remotely enjoyable, right? How could all those women be wrong? He was just being modest when he said he wasn't _that_ great, wasn't he? Then again, modesty wasn't one of his strong suits.

Behind the pillow barricade, the bed shifted slightly. Ino's head rose up, peeking over the wall to see nothing but Genma's shoulder beside her. Curiosity got the better of her as she turned over, fingers clutching one of the pillows as she peered down at him. He looked like he was sleeping still as his eyes were closed, but you could never tell with shinobi. Shikamaru could wake up at the drop of a pin but Chouji would sleep through monsoons. For all that had happened the night before, he was sleeping rather contentedly, a marked difference from how agitated she felt. Still, she didn't mind it. He looked kind of nice like that, just like she'd always expected him to be after listening to years of gossip: carefree.

At that moment, Ino's heart tinged with pain. If the previous night hadn't happened, she might have thought it was broken, but now? She knew better than that. Her heart was far from broken. It was just numbed. She bit the inside of her lip slightly, shrinking down until just her eyes were peeking out from the top of the pillow. "Genma?" she asked softly.

The bed shifted in response as he turned further away and followed with an indignant grunt.

"Genma?"

At the moment, the man in question wished the woman tormenting him would just go away and let him sleep. After spending the majority of the night with her on his mind, he wanted nothing more than to go back to thinking not one thought about her. She'd done enough to him already, wasn't that plain to see? He grunted again, pulling the pillow out from under his head and stuffing it overtop his ear. "Go back to sleep, Ino," he mumbled, attempting to remain half-asleep. "It's too early still."

"It's over an hour past dawn, you lout."

"And is Sakura back in her suite yet?"

The bed shifted as she got up, then bounced again as she sat back down. ". . . no," she answered, and he could almost hear a disappointed pout in her voice.

"Go back to bed, Ino. Nothing is going to happen for a little while."

Another shift and he knew she was lying down again. "That isn't why I woke you up, Genma. I thought . . ." his sense of dread heightened as she trailed off before finally saying, "we should talk."

That one last word made his sleep-clouded eyes crack open. Talk. Now she wanted to talk. Wasn't that the one thing she wanted to do last night that got them into this mess in the first place? Wasn't he the one who didn't want to talk about his personal life too much out of fear that something like this would happen? Funny how when he wanted to talk the night before, and tell her something drastically important, she wanted to sleep, but now she wanted to talk. After spending a lot of waking hours stewing over how he felt, how much he'd screwed up, now she wanted to 'talk'? Funny how a conversation now seemed like the last thing he wanted.

For a brief moment, his anger boiled enough that he almost forgot that he was supposed to be in love with Ino. His jaw clenched; he was not about to give in to that silly idea of confessing his feelings to her. "Yeah? So talk," Genma grumbled, certain that nothing remotely profound would be coming out of her mouth any time soon.

In that aspect he was right, as Ino didn't say anything. For wanting to talk, she wasn't saying much at all. Despite how much he wanted to be angry with her, his curiosity won out, helped along by a good dose of compassion he couldn't deny. "Fuck," he cursed under his breath before rolling over.

Propping himself up on his elbow, the brown-haired shinobi looked down over the pillow barricade to see Ino flat on her back, staring straight up at the blank ceiling. Her face was just as flat, not an emotion on it that he could read except the flicker of her eyes as she was thinking, which knowing her might take a while. Without some sort of prompt, she probably wouldn't even blink a blue eye for at least another ten minutes. So, he prompted, "What did you want to talk about? About last night?"

Her fingers clenched the sheet over her breasts, knotting it in her fists. Oceanic blue eyes slide sideways to glance at him then were trained once more on staring straight up. This was not like the Ino he knew to clam up suddenly, but, considering the circumstances . . .

Ino mumbled, "Stop looking at me. You're making me nervous."

For a moment, Genma's eyebrows arched in surprise, then flattening into a scowl as he flopped back down on the bed. He stared straight up as well and crossed his arms. "You're the one that wanted to talk. I'm trying to be accommodating."

She went silent again as he resisted the temptation to roll his eyes._Whatever question she cooked up had better be worth the wait_, he thought, barely keeping himself from grumbling out loud. "Last night . . . it wasn't good, was it?" she asked with a curious clarity to her voice, half-dreamy as well, as if she was just waking up to reality.

His heart sank. She had to ask that question first, huh? As much as he wanted to lie to her and tell her it was fine, lying wouldn't be doing her any favors in the long run. It was better to get disappointment over with. "No, it wasn't," Genma answered bluntly, "but it was your first time. Those are never any good."

"Oh . . . this is from first hand experience."

"General knowledge."

"But it was good for you at least?"

Fuck, he really didn't want to answer that question. It was the equivalent of asking a woman if she loved chocolate. Everyone knew the answer was an ecstatic yes, but no one ever asked it aloud, let alone answered. Of course it was good for him, but if he said yes, then he'd seem like a self-centered jerk, and anything less would make her feel inadequate. Nothing came to him at all on how to answer Ino, and he needed to say something, didn't he? Just as his mouth dropped open with some lame excuse on the tip of his tongue, she interrupted. "Well, I suppose it was good for you and all with that funny face you made and all those noises . . ."

Genma laid there in stunned silence. He'd made a funny face in the middle of sex? That wasn't too surprising, but that she mentioned it was. Did she even know what a climax looked like? Probably not, since she hadn't even experienced one yet. He successfully suppressed a groan, waiting for her next bombshell question to fall. When she did finally ask the next thing on her mind, he was almost sure he felt the mattress give way under him. "How does one get better at sex exactly?"

"Uhhhh . . ." he said dumbly, fumbling for an answer that wasn't too crude. "Well, like anything else, it sort of takes 'practice'."

"Oh . . . but I thought you had a lot of practice?"

"Um, I do, but you don't."

"So . . . maybe it would be better if we tried it again?"

That time, he really was sure the bed would fall out from underneath him and he'd end up face first on the carpet. Ino couldn't be serious about that! . . . could she? Practice? With him? Again? For a moment, a glimmer of hope made Genma's heart pound in his chest while all that freshly pumped blood gravitated right to his crotch. No matter how suave he tried to make his voice sound, he couldn't exactly keep from getting a little bit nervous. "In theory, it would be better the second time . . ."

". . . I don't really want to try again . . ."

His heart sank once more along with the growing bulge under the sheets. "Oh . . ." he said, doing his best not to sound too disappointed while trying to be somewhat considerate at the same time. "Well, you're probably still sore . . . down there."

"Yeah . . . Why didn't it work out, though?" Ino suddenly asked.

Genma blinked. What kind of question was that? The vagueness of her question puzzled him enough that he had to ask, "Why didn't what work?"

"The ummm . . . you know, the sex. I thought it was supposed to be good."

His brown eyes rolled. "This is why I said sex isn't the end all, be all of relationships. It isn't always good, at least not until you know the other person enough to know what they want."

"Oh . . . so that's what the practice is for then?"

"Somewhat, but even then sometimes is doesn't work out that well."

"Oh . . . then why does everyone make such a big deal about it if it's not even good half the time?" she asked, sounding indignant at her own question. It was a good thing to ask since even he didn't know why sex was such a big deal to everyone but himself. Sure, he had lots of it, but in the course of having lots of it, and of the good variety, the emotional value in the act had dwindled for him. Even the night before, it hadn't occurred to him until afterwards how deeply his feelings for Ino ran. Somehow, he doubted that was what she wanted to hear. "It's different for each person," he started to answer, still trying to figure out how to put it gently. "For most people, it has all that stuff like love involved in it, for others, it doesn't. You're supposed to want it, even if it's bad sometimes. Then again, when it's good, it's . . ."

"It's what?"

"Really good? . . . and kind of fun, actually."

"It didn't seem that fun to me. More like a sweaty, painful mess . . ."

". . . yeah, bad sex tends to be just that," Genma said bluntly. "You shouldn't worry over it too much. You'll . . . get better."

"I'm not worried. I'm just curious, and . . . I don't know. Something just felt wrong with what we did, like something was missing that should have been there. I don't know what it is, only that I don't want it to happen again."

Normally, a man like him wasn't the type to fret over anything. Men didn't fret, they worried. But there he was, fretting over the comment Ino had just made. Was he really that bad? She didn't feel a damned thing? At all? It felt wrong? Well, he knew it was wrong before they'd started, but not exactly a bad kind of wrong by his standards. He really had messed up, hadn't he? If she knew how much of a screw up he was the night before when actually taking her virginity, she'd never forgive him.

Wait. Was this entirely his fault anyway? She was right in that he'd had enough experience to know what he was doing, and yet he still managed to foul it all up. If the problem wasn't him, it had to be her, didn't it? She was virgin after all, the one with all the high and mighty ideals about romance and love, and everything else he didn't want to think about. Maybe she was just expecting too much out of him as he was expecting too much out of himself. Damnit, he'd tried at least, hadn't he?!

Both of them had fallen silent again, one still contemplating where she went wrong while the other began to brew in his embarrassment and indignation. "It still doesn't answer why . . ." Ino commented.

Genma bit the inside of his mouth to keep from snapping at her, but it didn't stop the question he had from escaping his lips. "You've never had an orgasm, have you?"

She didn't say anything. His eyes rolled. Great. "By your silence, I'm assuming no . . . Do you even know what one is?"

"Don't insult my intelligence. Of course I know what an orgasm is."

"But you've never had one, right?"

More silence from the blonde followed.

"Have you ever masturbated?"

The shocked gasp at Genma's question was enough indication to him that he was right. She went off on him regardless, springing up to look down on him over the top of the pillow wall. "How can you ask me that kind of question?! What I do is my own business and you have no right to know! I don't even see its relevance to what we were talking about!"

"Considering what we did together last night, I know more about you now than your own mother does," Genma pointed out, glancing off to the side instead of looking at her. A beet red blush sprung up across Ino's face, half in anger and half in mortification that he would say such a thing. If it wasn't for the fact that they were both naked, she would have tried to kill him where he lay. "Still doesn't have a thing to do with what we were talking about," she grumbled, lying back down on her side of the bed.

As tempting as it was to roll his eyes again, he didn't. Instead, he rolled back onto his side away from Ino. Her and her fixations on what sex was and was not to be were getting to him. Damnit, why didn't she just say it already and call what they did a mistake out loud? They both knew it. It was why she kept questioning him, wasn't it? What was the point in finding the whys of everything when things just went wrong for no reason at all? Did she really need that much of a reason to justify feeling nothing for him in return? Because to Genma at that moment, that's what it seemed like she was looking for.

She didn't love him like he loved her; that much he was sure of.

"The reason why you couldn't get off last night is because to feel nothing for me," he said abruptly. "It was just sex and attraction, which isn't enough for a woman like you."

". . . a woman like me?! What the hell do you mean by that?!" she yelled, sitting up once again while temporarily forgetting her modesty as the sheet fell away.

This time, Genma shot up from the bed as well, yelling in her face. "What I mean is that you need love to get off, that's what I mean! Or at least you need to think you're in love! It isn't enough for you just to like someone and be into it!"

Ino's mouth dropped open at his accusation. She needed love!? What kind of an excuse was that?! She didn't need love, not that she ever had it in the first place! The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to scream at him just to try and prove him wrong about her once again. She might have done just that too if it hadn't occured to the blonde that she still had no idea exactly what he meant. Watching as he laid back down on his side of the bed, she heard him grunt in frustration, then ruffle the sheets around his body before finally speaking, "It's not . . . it's not an entirely bad thing, but since you don't feel anything for me, then it's a problem."

". . . I still don't get it."

Genma groaned again, smacking a hand across his face. "Ino," he started, "last night, I heard about all of your high ideals regarding love. You definitely put a lot of faith in that emotion, and to some people, good sex is entirely about emotions, but when it comes to me, you have none. You do not think of me the way you do of Shikamaru. So, sleeping with me doesn't have any meaning for you, and without the meaning . . ."

". . . it's why I just laid there," she finished for him as his point started to sink in.

"Now she gets it," Genma grumbled, expecting another angry tirade from her for his remark. That tirade never came. In fact, he didn't even hear a peep from her as Ino became too far gone in her own thoughts.

He was right, entirely right, no matter how much she wanted to disagree with him and with herself. It was one thing to admit to yourself about having made a serious mistake, but it was another thing entirely to hear confirmation of said mistake coming out of someone else's mouth. She'd been thinking the same things ever since they'd finished last night, but she just couldn't bring herself to truly believe it. He was right. What they'd done in the end meant nothing because she didn't love him. She did not love Genma at all. She didn't feel a thing for him, even if she wanted to, and at that moment, she really wanted to feel something for him. If she didn't feel anything, then all of last night really was a mistake after all, a horrible, inerasable mistake. She didn't want to be wrong. She didn't want it to be a mistake because if it was, then she'd given up her virginity for nothing but disappointment. How could she be so wrong? Kissing him last night, it had felt . . . right. It was about the only thing that had felt right.

How did he even know how she felt? Was she really that transparent? She must have been if he knew her well enough to know how she did and did not feel. Genma must have known all along that she didn't love him, and yet he still let her sleep with him.

The dawning realization sent a chill over Ino's skin as her hands shook slightly. What had she done? How was she ever going to look him in the eye now after practically using him? She had used him, hadn't she, just to prove a point? For one night she had compromised her ideals, had thrown away what she had always held valuable, all to prove she didn't need them anymore, and for what?! Nothing! Not even the illusion of love, or happiness, or anything else as simple as pleasure could make what they'd done seem worth it because she didn't feel any of it for him. All she had proven was that she did need the idea of love after all, and badly. How could she have been so stupid?!

Slowly, Ino lay back down on her side of the bed. She curled up and rolled onto her side, unable to make the shaking wracking her body go away. Silent tears fell from the corner of her blue eyes onto the stained sheets. What had she done except ruin herself? It was hard to believe that she had given in over one simple kiss, too. Why did he have to kiss her, and why did she still want to be kissed by him? She bit her bottom lip, trying to remember the sensation, but she couldn't. Why did he do it? None of this would have happened if he hadn't.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked again, her voice shaking slightly. "And don't feed me some line this time about me needing to be kissed!"

That was another good question Genma didn't have an answer to, or at least not one he would admit to. The truth was that he kissed her because he loved her, but didn't know it at the time. Even if at that moment he felt like utter shit because of Ino, he couldn't help but love her still . . . except he now couldn't tell her how he felt. If only she'd let him talk last night, then maybe he would still have had the courage to confess. It was obvious she didn't feel the same way as he did from the way she reacted. So what was the point of telling her except to have his heart stepped on, beaten, and then thrown against a wall? What choice did he have left except to lie?

Still, to have no choice but to lie to Ino didn't make him feel any better. This was self-preservation, right? He was going to keep the truth from her to protect them both, but mostly to protect his heart. It was better this way. "I kissed you because . . ." he started, the lie heavy on his tongue as he trailed off.

"Because?" she asked softly.

". . . because I wanted to shut you up and it was all I could think of."

And there he had it, the lamest, most jerk-like excuse for kissing a woman ever. Genma mentally cursed himself, knowing there was no way she'd believe that, and if she did, she'd only hate him more. "I see . . ." she said, and for a moment, he was almost sure he heard her sniffle. "Thank you, for telling me."

Ino's words sunk in along with the realization that it was done now. He couldn't take those words back and say how he really felt. Shifting uncomfortably on the bed, he looked straight up again, then grumbled a few moments later. "You're welcome."

The sunlit room went quiet again for a long while, and Genma found himself slowly drifting back to sleep, which was possibly a good thing for him at that moment. Ino, on the other hand, couldn't sleep at that moment if her life depended on it. She sniffled softly to try and keep the tears to herself, but they kept falling down her face and hurting her eyes. At that moment, she needed to give in to her weakness and cry until it hurt, but her pride wasn't about to let her sob around him. Genma wouldn't understand what she had done. How she felt didn't matter to him. She was a disappointment to him, after all, as much as she was a disappointment to herself. What was she going to do?

Slowly, she sat up and swung her feet off the edge of the mattress. Using the back of her hand, she tried to wipe the streaks off of her face even if the tears didn't stop. She took a deep breath to calm the sobbing from rising in her throat, then looked back to see Genma lying there with his eyes almost entirely closed. Suddenly, the air around her in that cramped hotel room felt stiflingly stale. She needed to get out of there.

The bed moved as she stood up, disturbing him enough that he cracked an eye open to see what woke him up. What he hazily saw was Ino's figure outlined against the morning light, pale hair almost translucent in the dawn glow. She yanked the sheet off of the bed and him entirely, wrapping it around her body. He let her, watching with curiosity as he saw her take a step towards the sliding door leading out into the cold. A draft of frigid air hit him as she slid the pane of glass open. Genma sat up abruptly as she stepped outside. "Ino?"

The blonde didn't answer or turn back when he called after her, taking off instead in a leap across to another balcony. "Shit," he cursed to himself as he got out of the bed.

He jumped up from sitting to standing in an instant, scrambling for the heavy covers. What was she, crazy?! She had to be! It was at least ten below freezing out there, and she stepped out in nothing but a sheet! Where in the hell was she going?! Wherever it was, she must have been running towards it. Moving quickly, he grabbed a fallen blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it over his waist and torso. Rooting around a little, he found his snow boots and pulled them on as well. Grumbling to himself, he grabbed both of their winter coats, throwing on his own before heading out into the cold as well. "Stupid woman . . ."

Bundled up rather haphazardly, Genma scanned the other balconies across from theirs, not seeing a sign of the kunoichi. Looking down skeptically towards the street level, he didn't see her there either. With a slight lean over the railing, he looked straight up towards the roof of the towering hotel. Sure enough, he could see a glimpse of white along the edge, which probably belonged to Ino's sheet. He shook his head and grumbled more, trying not to think about how she got up there so fast as the roof had to be maybe ten to fifteen floors up.

Well, if she could do it, so could he.

Tucking her coat under his arm, the shinobi jumped up onto the railing and then upwards, springing off the snow-covered balconies on his way to the top. Finally, with one last jump, Genma landed in a crouch on the stone edge of the roof, panting out small puffs of steam-filled air. That was more effort than he was used to at the crack of dawn. Glancing over wearily, he saw the blonde sitting on the ledge in a curled up ball, the cotton sheet tucked around her body, except for her pale bluish feet. She stared at him in a mix of anger and grief, the proof of which kept falling down her cheeks with big, fat tears. "Go away . . ." she whispered harshly before burying her eyes into her bent knees.

Sitting down on the snow and stone, he glared back. "Are you crazy? After the effort it took to get up here? You're going to have to do better than that to be rid of me."

"I don't want to be rid of you. I just want to be alone! I needed space to think! Is that so hard for you to understand?!"

"No, but taking off like you did while still practically naked isn't exactly demonstrating your superior, genius-level intelligence, either!"

"I don't care! I just wanted to be left alone, ok?!" Ino sobbed, her voice muffled from both her knees and from crying. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he watched her. This had him written all over it; his fault, his mistake, his lack of both control and forethought. He couldn't exactly fix her or give her back the hopes he'd shattered the previous night. He shouldn't have lied to her out of self-preservation either. Genma looked down at the brown coat in his hand, thumbing the fur collar. The only thing he could do was maybe make things a little better.

He stood up from the ledge and walked behind her, unfurling the coat. He gently dropped the garment on Ino's shoulders as she flinched slightly. Her head rose up a little to glance at him sideways, red rimming her eyes, and then turned back to overlooking the dawn sky. She didn't push him and the coat away after that, not even when he rubbed his hands down her arms in an effort to warm her back up. He couldn't help wanting to touch her at that moment, thinking that maybe it would take some of the shame away. When Genma's arms encircled her shoulders, Ino didn't push him away then either.

"Last night . . ." she started to speak after a long silence.

"You don't have to say anything," he grumbled, already knowing what she would say and not wanting to hear it either. "What happened . . . happened . . ."

"But I need to say it," Ino said forcefully, even if he could hear her teeth chattering in the cold. "Last night was a mistake. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You don't have to rationalize anything."

"But you were right. I thought I could be like you, that love wasn't relevant, that I didn't need it, but I do! Badly! You were right! I never should have–"

Ino cut herself off with a gasping sob. Genma's arms tightened, lowering his chin until it rested on her shoulder. Turning, the blonde cried into the bend of his neck. "I'm so sorry . . ." she whispered as the tears burned in the cold, "We never should have–"

"Stop blaming yourself."

"But–"

"It takes two people to make this kind of . . . mistake."

That statement seemed to mollify Ino a little as she sniffled, still shivering against him. "But . . ." she tried to say after a moment, "I meant that I'm sorry that . . ."

She never finished that sentence, but Genma already knew what she was going to say. If she had the bravery to finish her words, she would have told him that she was sorry she didn't love him, but he already knew that. Hearing Ino say 'that' out loud would have too much salt in his wounds. "It's alright," he lied, staring intently at the red rising sun through the grey clouds. "You don't need to explain anything."

"You probably think I'm the most pathetic woman ever . . ."

"No, I don't," Genma said honestly. "A pathetic person wouldn't have cared. It only proves you're human too."

"I'm a shinobi too, you know. No emotion . . ."

"You actually believe in all that crap?"

"No . . ." Ino confessed, curled up against him, "but I should be stronger than this, shouldn't I?"

"You don't have to be brave to make me think any higher of you."

"But . . . I thought . . ."

"You thought I hated you? After all this?"

The question came out of Genma's mouth followed by an amused snort as Ino shrunk into a tighter ball in his arms. Great, now she felt even guiltier on top of just being plain miserable for thinking that exact thing. She looked up at his face, watching as he stared off into the dawn sky. Whatever he was thinking, she couldn't see it in his features. Admittedly, after seeing him there while holding her, a sense of regret pulsed through the blonde. She really wanted to feel something more for the man, anything more than just friendship. For some reason though, it never occurred to her that those feelings were already there, hidden under everything else she wanted to bury and forget. She felt nothing but the cold and regret.

For a long moment, he didn't say anything, simply exhaled a labored breath. "I don't hate you . . . How could I? You never exactly gave me a chance to hate you, even if there were times I wanted to," Genma admitted, the rest of a confession standing on the tip of his tongue.

Yet again, he wasn't brave enough to go that far as the words suddenly felt like dust in his mouth. He gave a frustrated groan, moving an irritating forelock of brown hair out of his face with a jerk of his arm. "You're a good girl, ok?" he started, obviously sounding vexed. "Don't sell yourself short by thinking you're not worthy, because you are. Being idealistic and a romantic isn't a bad thing, just different. It's better than being a cynical bastard like me by a long shot. Just don't give up because of this, ok?"

Ino didn't say anything but stare at him, her cerulean eyes wide in partial wonderment as he continued. "We're going to finish this mission, and then we're going to go home. You're going to go right up to Shikamaru and tell him exactly how you feel, and if he doesn't feel the same way about you, then he's a damned fool . . . Either way . . . last night changed nothing. It was just another night. I'm not the one you really want . . ."

"You really think that?" she asked, unable to help the disbelief in her voice.

"Of course . . . you were right. Last night was a mistake. We both know that. Moving on is better."

"But . . ."

"I'm sorry . . . this wasn't your fault. I'll make it up to you Ino, somehow . . ."

She blinked then furrowed her brow for a moment. It had to be that other side of Genma she was hearing, the one she couldn't exactly understand as it contradicted everything she thought she knew about him, even if it fascinated her all the same. He had to be saying all this just to make her feel better. It wasn't exactly working. "It takes two to make a mistake like this. Didn't you say that already?"

Genma shuddered out another held breath, then groaned. "I don't think now is the time to argue about which of us is wrong. The point is you can't blame just yourself. Is that clear enough?"

The blonde sniffled, her face buried in the collar of his coat as she threw her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a moment, then tried to push her away. Comfort from her wasn't what he needed at the moment, not that he would admit to needing anything. When she didn't budge an inch, he relaxed, his arms going limp over her. "Ino . . ." he muttered under his breath, "I am never going to understand you."

"Most people never do . . . Thank you, for being here, and for being my friend."

The kunai plunged in his heart as he winced slightly, then twisted with agonizing sureness. Well, there, she had finally said it; they were 'just friends'. He was right all along. Confessing to her would have been moot anyway, but it still hurt to be proven correct. Genma laughed in a low, bitter tone at both her words and at his hand in fate. "Don't mention it."

"When this is all over, I think . . . I think I will do what you said, then move on."

"That's the mature thing to do . . ."

"Maybe it is time I finally grew up a little."

"Don't go changing too much now. Maturity is overrated."

He didn't notice until that moment that his fingers had been playing with her pale hair, tangled in the strands. Suddenly feeling caught, he let his hand slip away. "Besides," he started to say with a slight hitch in his voice, "you're perfect the way you are . . ."

A small smile crept up onto the blonde's face, then dissolved into another sad frown. As nice as the sentiment was, it wasn't true. Everything was different now, even if it was in small ways. She would never be the same even, if she wanted to be. A tear trickled out from the corner of her eyes, wetting the side of Genma's neck. He felt it alright, along with the shiver of her body. Shit, he shouldn't have said that. "I didn't mean that–"

She breathed in sharply with a warble, then spoke. "Don't even try to comfort me right now."

"But–"

"I lost something last night that was very important to me, so don't even think I'm all better. Just . . . just let me cry a little more."

He sat there as he heard her grieve for the loss of her innocence, helpless to do anything but hold her. This beautiful, smart, nagging, stubborn, wonderful woman was broken because of him, because of something he took for his own desires, and there wasn't any way he could help her or make things better. She didn't want him, and honestly, he didn't deserve her anyway. Ino deserved to have all her dreams come true, and he wouldn't be the one able to give her that no matter how much he wanted to. All he could do was hold on to her for now, and then let go.

In spite of himself, moisture slowly built up around his eyes that he quickly blinked away before it could spill down his face. He wanted to grieve with her, not for her loss, but for his own, yet he couldn't bring himself to appear weak or emotional for once in his life. When this mission was over, she would move on to someone else, someone that wasn't him. He was in love with a young woman that would never love him back, and he would never be able to tell her how he really felt. Just when it seemed like he stood a chance, that moment was gone. Like everything else, he had screwed up that chance beyond repair. After years of experience with the opposite sex, he'd finally found a woman that not only held his interest, but had broken down every reason he had to resist the very concept of love.

She was annoying, loud, vicious, spoiled, naïve, useless at times, and stubborn at others. She was too used to getting her own way. She thought she was so smart and beautiful, but of course she was. She tried to be strong when she knew she wasn't cut out for it. She believed in herself to the point of being nearly self-centered, but wasn't. She frustrated him, perplexed him, and had endeared herself to him to the point that he couldn't imagine himself anywhere else except by her side. She made him believe in that most useless of emotions again, both to his alarm and to his elation.

Yet, when all was said and done, he would let Ino go without a word because he loved her too much to do anything else.

For that reason, he wanted to cry, but couldn't.

* * *

End Notes –

Yamada Hanako/Taro – In case no one got this reference, it's a name joke. The names Yamada Hanako or Yamada Taro is the Japanese equivalent of Jane or John Doe.

To Be Continued in Part 14 of Dirty Deeds, Keeping Up Appearances.


	14. Keeping Up Appearances

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 14 – Keeping Up Appearances

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.

* * *

Ino stepped down delicately onto the balcony from the railing, helped by Genma's offered hand as he stood in front of her. Neither of them had said much on the descent from the rooftop, but then again, there wasn't much left to say. After he opened the sliding glass door, she bustled past him without a word and headed towards the bathroom, clinging to the sheet and coat wrapped over her figure. The door closed with a definite thud as he sat down on the messy bed and sighed to himself. Their morning was shot now, not that he minded too much. Then again, this was still a mission, even if it was half-assed. They should have been focusing on making their two friends fall in love, not dealing with their own love lives. Maybe now that their personal problems were resolved they could get back to being shinobi.

Resolved wasn't exactly the right word though, 'ended' sounded more final. Taking a look over his shoulder, he saw the stain on the sheets and jumped up off the bed. Grumbling, he pulled the fitted sheet off the bed, balled it up and tossed it on the floor followed by the comforter wrapped over his waist. He really didn't want to see more evidence of his mistake at that moment if they were going to pretend now that it never happened. Walking over to their bags, Genma started pulling out his clothes, getting dressed in a hurry. He stopped as he heard the water turn off from behind the bathroom door. "Can you pass me my clothes?" she asked, as if everything was just the same as the day or so before.

"Sure," he grumbled, grabbing the first things of hers he could find, not caring if they were clean or not. Gathering the garments in his arms, he then rapped softly on the bathroom door. She opened the portal a crack, giving just enough room for him to slip them through to her. "Thank you . . ." Ino said softly as she took the clothes.

"You're welcome," he answered back, standing there expectantly like there was something else he should have said but not knowing was it was. After an awkward moment, Ino flashed a small reassuring smile and moved deeper into the bathroom, out of his sight. Turning around again, Genma left her to her own devices, worrying more about his own. It was probably time he checked in on Kakashi anyway.

Left alone in the bathroom, Ino carefully organized her clothes and items on the counter like she did every morning then began the long process of getting herself ready for the day. After the changes of the past few hours, a little touch of normalcy was more refreshing than it had any right to being.

It didn't occur to her until after she had peeled off her overcoat and stood in front of the mirror how oddly things had transpired, namely that she had actually gone outside in nothing but a sheet. The more that realization kicked in, the more shame she felt on top of feeling stupid. What in the world had she been thinking? Getting emotional was one thing, but now she was just feeling stupid, if not a bit ashamed, of her irrational behavior. At this rate, she'd end up as pathetical and alone as Sakura.

The kunoichi covered her face with her hands and groaned in embarrassment. If anyone ever found out about her ridiculousness, she'd be the laughing stock of Konoha for weeks. She could almost mentally see the disapproval on her father's face as well. That disapproval could very easily turn into homicidal rage if he ever knew who had taken his little girl's virginity. Then again, the only other person who knew about what had happened was currently sitting out in the bedroom being awfully quiet about everything. Ino sighed to herself a moment, and swallowed her pride, "Genma?"

A questioning grunt came from the bedroom, and little else. At least he was somewhat paying attention. "You're not planning to tell anyone about this little 'vacation' of ours, are you?" she asked hesitantly.

"This mission is solely between you, me, and the Hokage."

Ino's eyes rolled. Great, her reputation was as good as dead if he told everything to the second biggest blabber mouth in Konoha's history, their esteemed Tsunade-sama. One bottle of sake could pry all sorts of village indiscretions from their Hokage's mouth. "We don't need to tell her everything, do we?" she implied, hoping he picked up the not-so-subtle hint.

He didn't say anything.

"I mean, it's probably in our best interests if we just kept what happened last night and this morning to ourselves. Don't you agree?"

As she heard nothing but silence from the other room for the longest while after her questions, the blonde's paranoia increased. "Genma?"

Once again, he didn't answer.

Pulling on her clothes quickly, Ino walked out of the bedroom then stopped in her tracks as she saw him sitting on the edge of the bare mattress. He held the binoculars to his eyes, staring intently through them out the window. "What is it?" she asked after he didn't seem to notice her as she crept closer around the bed.

Genma flinched and glanced at her, before looking back through the binoculars. "Turn on the speaker, will you?" he grumbled, ignoring her question for now.

Sighing, she flipped on the speaker and transmitter on the table after picking it up off the floor. Looking over the rest of the mess they had made the previous night, Ino decided to ignore cleaning the rest of it up as she grabbed the tipped over chair and placed it before the telescope and pulling both of them closer to the bed. Sitting next to her partner, she looked through the eyepiece and found Kakashi in the hotel room curled up in exactly the same position as the night before when he fell asleep. There was one difference though; his eyes weren't closed.

Somehow, she expected more than that. Sitting back in the chair, she glanced over as Genma as he kept on watching. What exactly did he see that was so important that she didn't? For a moment, she was almost jealous of the idea that he could be more perceptive than her. Well, perhaps he wasn't that insightful except when it came to the silver-haired target of their mission. Being able to read Kakashi as well as she could read Sakura had been why they had been assigned together in the first place. Although, Ino still doubted that any of that reasoning was true. Still, the concentrating look on the brown-haired man's face made her curious, a quality of her personality that had gotten her in trouble last night. Given how well that had gone, she didn't feel quite so willing to ask any more idle questions.

She looked into the telescope again, and tried to think. Something was definitely odd about Kakashi sitting there in the same position all night and falling asleep like that. His neck was going to be in a world of pain when he woke up, that was for sure. Still, she didn't see any significant in it that they hadn't figured out already. The man was completely and totally nuts over her friend, his partner, the one and only Haruno Sakura, but kept denying it. Even after what the pair had done the night before, you'd think he'd be a bit more willing to just let it go and admit he had feelings for her that went way before friendship, but no, he obviously must have chickened out. Everything seemed so much simpler when people just admitted how they felt instead of trying to ignore its existence.

Although as soon as that thought crossed Ino's mind, some part of that logic seemed a touch hypocritical suddenly even if it was the same exact thing Genma had said the night before. She couldn't quite place her finger on why it pained her to think like that, but it did. Glancing over her shoulder at the brown-haired shinobi, the pressure in her chest felt even worse. She had been so sure on the roof top that she'd felt nothing for him that feeling anything else gave her doubt. Was there something she was missing? It certainly felt like something was.

Suddenly, his brown eyes peeled away from the binoculars to focus on her as she quickly faced forward again. "What?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"Nothing," she muttered, cursing her lack of courage to say anything else once caught. If he suspected anything peculiar in her staring, he didn't mention it as he went back to looking out the window. After a moment, he finally lowered the binoculars while leaning forward heavily with his knees on his elbows. "I never thought it would actually happen . . ." Genma said cryptically.

Ino's eyebrow arched in his direction, not so much curious as to his choice of words, but the sad tone he said them in. "Something happen?" she asked, blinking in confusion, "Because I don't see anything happening."

He frowned at her in disappointment. He should have known that she wouldn't get it, but then again, she didn't know Kakashi like he did. While he didn't have his friend's exact history down flat, he had learned the Copy Nin's mannerisms well enough over the years, when he chose to show any. Although, when he did show some form of emotion, it was usually as easy to read as a well-used book. At that moment, the silver-haired man's right eye was drooping like normal, which meant he was thinking. Knowing Kakashi, he wasn't thinking about anything but Sakura. Then there was the way the poor man sat hunched on the bed, which couldn't be remotely relaxed. His fingers kept moving as well, as if he couldn't keep still. If Genma didn't know better, he would have thought his friend was down right twitchy. He had only ever known Kakashi to get twitchy over one this in his life, and that was a new release of the Icha Icha series, the love of his life.

Now the famous book series seemed to be the second love of his best friend's life.

That is, if he was right. He knew he was right. In fact, he was so sure he was right that he'd bet his salary for this entire mission on it. Given how closely-guarded Kakashi kept himself, there was no other explanation. Shaking his head slightly, Genma gave a half-hearted grin towards the kunoichi. "He's in love."

"Of course he is. We already knew that during week one. Where have you been?"

"There's a difference between being in love and living in denial, and then being in love while actually knowing."

Ino's head turned towards him in shock, her blue eyes widening a moment. "You mean he's finally realized that he-?!"

"Don't get your panties in a knot. Sakura still isn't there yet, and there's plenty of time for denial."

The blonde snorted, standing up from her chair to walk around the bed back towards the bathroom. "How about not bringing my panties into the discussion?" she grumbled before closing the door behind her again, presumably to finish getting ready.

Once she was gone, he couldn't help but grin a little that the perverse thought going through his head on the topic of her underwear before frowning again. Her panties were not a mental image he needed at that moment. In fact, he didn't want to think of any part of that woman in that way ever again, and yet such things still seemed to creep up on him. On the other hand, everything was back to normal between them again, which was the way it should have stayed in the first place. Maybe moving on from Ino when their mission was over would be easier than he thought. Yet, that thought didn't exactly make him feel any better.

Who was he kidding? He was still walking on eggshells around her, and still very much attracted to her, except now he couldn't do a damned thing about it. Things would never be that normal between them from now on since both of them had been changed. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he was different now, and not in a way he liked. _Oh hell_, Genma thought with a grumble, _I might as well just face it. I'm turning into a miserable failure like Kakashi_.

After sitting there for a long while trying to clear his head, and frowning in misery, Genma stood up again and started to clean up the mess that was their room. It took him a few minutes to make sense of the junk around the table, including their clothes, as he grabbed the trash can to throw out all of the used cans. When he crawled under the table to pick up some of the garbage, he heard a sudden squelch from the speaker above him. Jumping at the noise, he hit his head on the table with a thud that seemed to coincide with the sound of a door being closed. The shinobi's eyes widened as he realized that noise came from the speaker as well.

Scrambling along the floor, he stood up again and lunged for the binoculars he had left on the bed. Lifting them to his eyes, he quickly scanned the window to find Sakura slowly walking into her shared hotel room. "Ino!" Genma shouted.

The bathroom opened as the blonde walked out while still tucking in a red sweater. "Geez, I can't even finish getting dressed in peace anymore."

"Ino, the telescope. You want to see this."

"What did he do now, move an eyebrow?"

"Ino-"

She growled in frustration as she fussed with her stringy hair before rooting through one of their bags, "It can wait long enough for me to find a brush."

"Ino-"

"One moment."

"Ino . . . She's back."

The kunoichi stopped her rummaging to stare at him, surprised. "Oh . . ."

"Yeah, oh . . ."

* * *

The creak in his neck wasn't going away any time soon, especially if he kept sitting there like that, but Kakashi didn't feel like moving. Ever since he started sitting there last night, eventually falling asleep, he hadn't felt like moving much at all. He only shut his eye last night when he couldn't keep it open any longer, sleeping hunched over like he usually did in trees rather than like a normal person. It was a waste of the very expensive bed he sat on. When he woke up, he expected to find a familiar pink-haired young women lying next to him, but she wasn't there.

Exhaling slowly, he sat back up finally and stretched his neck back. He shouldn't have left her there, or at least he should have scheduled that letter to arrive at Nobu's residence earlier. If he had, Sakura would have been back by now. It wasn't as if he missed, far from it in fact. It was more that he was just concerned. Yes, concerned, especially since he was too chicken to go and watch what went down. For all he knew, that woman could have blown the whole thing by getting into a cat fight with Takara. Or Hiro could have seen through the whole masquerade, which would also ruin their mission. Or the mission might have gone beautifully, but Sakura could have run after what happened the night before. It didn't help that he ran away from the incident himself, and was still figuratively running. His fingers twitched in nervousness.

If she showed up that very moment, he had no idea what he would do if he did anything at all. There was no way he could tell her how he felt. That was completely out of the question. It wasn't even a question, it was a fact. He would not tell her, he just couldn't. Him telling a woman that he loved her? How ridiculous of an idea was that? He couldn't even picture how such a scene would play out let alone him acting in it. It wasn't something in him that he could do. His tongue would fall out of his mouth and flap around on the ground first before he made any such declaration of love to anyone. But . . . if he didn't, what was he going to do then? If he never told her how he felt, could they just be friends? What if friendship was all she wanted from him?

Kakashi frowned as he lowered folded his legs, resting his elbows on his knees. Reaching upwards, he rubbed his neck to try and work out the creak with a grumble. Sakura's fingers were better at this sort of thing than his own, and oh how he missed them . . . except now they took on a whole new meaning. After every intense training session between them, she would take the time to rub out his sore neck and shoulders with the professionalism of her medical skills and the familiarity only natural to close friends. Now, he doubted she'd ever be so familiar with him again. That was potentially just one of the prices he'd be paying for changing the nature of their relationship, and so far they didn't seem worth the experience. All he'd wanted a few weeks ago was just a person that cared about his continued existence, and even that he'd managed screw up, possibly beyond repair.

Groaning, he rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes, ruffling his messy bangs in the process. Suddenly, he stopped as he heard the creak of the hotel suite door. Slowly, he looked up to see a feminine figure standing in the bedroom doorway, a familiar tangled mop of pink hair on top of her head.

She was finally back.

His eyes widened as he went still, unable to look away even if he wanted to. She looked like a mess, but it didn't matter to him. She could have been wearing a rice sack, but she still would have had his undivided attention. As it was, looking at anything but her in that black outfit at that moment was next to impossible. He must have been blind not to notice for so many years the woman who had been right under his nose.

Sakura's green eyes stared back at him as she didn't move a muscle either except to clench the coat she held between her hands. In fact, her knuckles were nearly white from holding the dark material so tightly. Kakashi's mouth dropped open to say something, but nothing came out. His throat choked any words he would have had out of existence anyway. Her lips were parted as well, as if she too was struggling to say anything, but couldn't speak either. All she could do was stare back at him, neither of them able to look away. Then finally, she took and uncertain step back, lowering her eyes to the floor.

She didn't expect to feel like this once she was in his presence, but she did. Her heart wouldn't slow down and her knees felt like gelatin, as if she'd wobble her way to the floor right there. The delicious warmth she felt in the pit of her stomach from the night before would go away no matter how much she willed it to be gone. Her entire chest felt constricted, just breathing becoming a labored act. The room felt entirely too hot. One look at him, and there she was, falling to pieces. All the carefully rehearsed words she'd purposefully picked out on the walk home, all the rational explanation for her actions and feelings suddenly didn't seem all that relevant if she couldn't say a damned thing.

And all he could do was sit there and stare back at her like a dumb idiot with nothing to say either.

She really did hate him for a fraction of a moment. He really wasn't doing her any favors at all. Why couldn't he just have been his normal self, slightly blasé and sarcastic? Why couldn't everything be like it was previously, like the night before never happened? If he really didn't want her by leaving her there all alone, then why did he have to look at her like that? All his staring did was to confuse her even more and make her mild headache start to pound. And his mask was gone too. If he had worn it, then maybe she could have concentrated on something else rather than how his mouth hung open.

Sakura bit the inside of her mouth as her concentrated on the floor. This was just Kakashi she was facing, not some horrible monster ten times stronger than her. This wasn't like facing Sasuke at his worst, or Tsunade's drunken hangovers. She could handle this. She could be fine around him without feeling this burning need to get into his pants. She just wanted to be his friend, didn't she?

Looking up again hesitantly as he sat on the bed, and saw him staring at the floor as well. As her eyes drifted lower in disappointment, she wished the previous night, as beautiful as it was, hadn't happened at all. It wasn't worth it. She shouldn't get her hopes up that either of them knew a thing about relationships outside of their own friendships. She shouldn't have let Jun plant that tiny seed of hope in her that there was a chance for love where she least expected it. She never should have told him the one thing that triggered all of last night's folly. She gave in to her desires for one night and look what happened. Now she couldn't even say one word to her closest friend, let alone look him in the eye, and only because she couldn't keep her legs closed.

But . . . what if Jun was right? What if she really was in love with Kakashi?

As soon as that door of thought was opened, she slammed it back closed. No, she wasn't in love with him. It wasn't possible. It wasn't what she even wanted. They were just friends; that was it. Nothing else mattered to her so long as he was still her friend. That was all she wanted in their relationship, and it would stay that way. He could stare at her all he liked, but it wouldn't change her mind.

But what if her mind was already changed? What if that pain she felt since being abandoned last night really was her heart breaking? What if it was love?

Sakura squinted her green eyes shut, willing that that thought to go away. No, it wasn't love. It was never that. All last night possibly was, was a mistake, a stupid, horrible mistake. None of it was worth losing him over. Was it better to hope, try, and potentially lose the only man who made her feel like herself, or was it better to keep things the same and pretend? She'd taken the same chance twice before and neither of those relationships were ever the same. Somehow, she doubted a third time would be the charm.

Kakashi still sat there, silent. No doubt he was in the same turmoil that she was in, but she doubted he was thinking the same things. No, she suspected the only same thing they both really felt at that moment was regret, but perhaps for different reason. Jun was wrong. There was nothing more between the two shinobi than friendship and a lifetime's worth of regret.

She took a small step into the bedroom, moving sideways towards the bathroom as her skin suddenly crawled. After last night, the feeling of scum was unavoidable. As soon as he looked up at her, she stopped, shuffling her feet on the carpet instead. "Welcome back . . ." Kakashi said, glancing over her shoulder instead of looking directly at her as he spoke.

"Thank you . . ." she answered back, whispering it under her breath, "Sleep well."

"No . . . you?"

"No . . ."

"I see . . ." Kakashi trailed off, as if he was about to say more, but didn't.

After a painfully tense moment of silence, she couldn't help it any more. "We should probably talk about-"

"Let's not for a moment and pretend we did," he interrupted, "I should be asking you about the-"

"It went fine."

". . . How good is 'fine'?"

Sakura exhaled, almost in relief. "They bought it, both of them. I almost wish you had . . . well, I knew you couldn't be there, but still, it was a great performance."

"I did tell you that you were a great actress," Kakashi said with a sincere smile that faded quickly into a frown for a split second before his expression went blank. She fidgeted in the silence, heart still threatening to beat out of her chest around him. Why couldn't he just say something to break the ice so they could get this over with? The anxiety of waiting might not kill her, but it certainly wasn't improving her mood any. "So, Takara . . . ?" he started to ask before trailing off.

"She showed up. You were right." Sakura answered tersely, already knowing what he had wanted to ask.

"Good. The letter worked then."

She blinked, caught off-guard. "What letter?"

"Just some prompting I sent a day or two ago to make sure she would show up at the right time. Nothing to worry about."

"Who said I was worried?" she bit off, unable to hold back her anxiousness any more as it turned into anger. "I never said I was worried. I just didn't know about any letter."

"But it's over now. There isn't anything to worry about now is there?"

"But you sent her a letter!"

"And it worked, didn't it?"

"It did, you just didn't tell me about it!"

"It wasn't that-"

"It wasn't that important to keep me informed, was it?" Sakura threw back at Kakashi as he winced, "Obviously everything you do is on a need to know basis, and I don't need to know everything. So, thank you, once again for keeping me out of the loop."

"I didn't mean to-" Kakashi tried to explain before he stopped trying and sighed. It was obvious she wanted to be angry with him that much was clear, so saying another word on that topic would only have dug his grave deeper. He knew why she wanted to be angry with him as well, for avoiding the most obvious topic between them. Well, so what if he did try to avoid the topic. Maybe if he didn't say anything, then perhaps the rising urge he had to garble out that love confession would go away. If he could just concentrate on something other than stealing glances at her, then perhaps he could have avoided even thinking that the pervious night occurred. He needed to focus. This was their business, so he had to be business, all business . . . which was easier said than done.

He stopped himself from looking at the angry kunoichi's eyes one more time to glance towards the windows instead. "I . . . am sorry. It slipped my mind."

"Great. Anything else just happen to slip your mind too?" Sakura grumbled as he shook his head. She shook her head as well, sighing as she started to walk towards the bathroom. "I need to shower . . ." she announced in a dull tone as she moved past him.

"We aren't done yet."

The tired, pink-haired young woman stopped, her shoulders slumped. "What else is there to talk about?"

"You weren't exactly too clear about what happened . . ."

"After kicking me out, Takara had an almost non-reaction, which bugged Hiro more that if she had been screaming at him and such. He kicked her out too."

"Permanently?"

"No . . . I don't know what she will do but she will make another move. I can almost guarantee it."

A curious silver eyebrow rose in her direction, which prompted Sakura's explanation. "She's getting closer to unmasking us, Kakashi. I don't like it at all. I don't know what you have planned next, but we're not going to maintain this charade for much longer."

For a moment, the business-like look on his face slipped for a brief moment to appear worried before he seemed normal again, or at least normal for him. "I see . . ."

A dramatic and aggravated sigh came from Sakura's throat as she stomped a foot. "You're obviously not in the mood for talking, and I am in no mood to be interrogated, so why don't we just-"

"No, you were right earlier. We should talk . . ."

She blinked at his interruption while her heart leapt into her throat. Kami-sama, here it came, the moment she'd been dreading since the night before. What was the point when she already knew what he was going to say? It was better when he didn't say a thing, then they could have kept on pretending it didn't matter. The more she thought about it, the more she wished it would all go away, that she didn't feel any more for him than what she felt before, when they were still just friends. It was all better when they remained just friends. Even if part of her did love him, at least as a friend, they'd still be together. Wasn't that what mattered most? What she wanted the most was not to lose him to their mutual stupidity.

"We don't have to. There's really no need," Sakura said after a long moment, "What happened last night . . . it doesn't change a thing."

This time, it was Kakashi's turn to blink. "It doesn't?"

"No, it doesn't. We're still friends, right?"

The pain he'd been feeling weighing down on his chest ever since last night suddenly felt unbearably heavier. Friends. He really, really,_ really_ hated that word, so much so that the phrase ringing in his head made his feature break their schooled concentration to glance grimly away from her. That was it? She just wanted to be friends? Did she really think it was possible now? Was that really what she wanted, to keep on pretending? He didn't look up as he heard her take a step closer towards him. "Kakashi . . ."

Before she could get closer, the shinobi got up to his feet, keeping the same distance between them as before. Sakura stopped moving, watching as he avoided looking at her directly, his one eye still looking over her shoulder. When he finally did meet her eyes, it was only for a split second before he looked away, turning around briskly as he ruffled his silver hair. Her green eyes followed him as he started to pace. "Was it something I said?" she questioned out loud, "Kakashi, we are friends, aren't we?"

He stopped and glanced sideways at her before shoving his hands in his pockets. Friendship wasn't what he wanted at all. How blind could Sakura be not to see that? Apparently, it was all she wanted though. Was that really the end of it? If it was, if he even dared to tell her how he felt, would she reject him, wouldn't she? The heavy pain rushed from his chest as he slowly let out a breath. So this was what she wanted, to keep on pretending, to maintain the appearance of friendship between them. What else could he do but go along with it? "Yeah, we're friends," Kakashi said giving her one of his usual happy eye creases.

She didn't buy it, or his slightly-off smile one bit, as she slowly turned away towards the bathroom. He didn't expect her to buy it either. Sakura always was smarter than to believe him, even if she trusted him with her life. "I'm going to go take a shower now . . ." she muttered with a step towards the opposite door.

"Can I ask you one thing?"

The pink-haired young woman stopped in the doorway and cast a weary look at him from other her shoulder. Kakashi's bare feet shuffle on the carpet a moment as he couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze. "Why?"

"Why?"

"That's all I want to know, just why? We should . . . talk."

"You've never been one to want to talk before. You know that?"

"There is a first time for everything," he grumbled, glancing up a moment before concentrating on the floor once again. "This hasn't exactly happened before . . . between us, and-"

"And it's something I don't think will happen again. It was-"

"A mistake?"

Sakura stopped, her heart clenching at his question. As much as she wanted to lie to him and say it to save herself, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Last night was too wonderful to be a mistake, even if she wanted it to be. "No . . ." she started to say in a low whisper before standing up straight, "No, it was necessary, for the mission. You were right. He might not have bought it if we hadn't done something. But . . . it didn't mean anything other than that."

Did it really mean nothing? Even Sakura wasn't so sure she believed that either. "For the mission then, I see . . ." Kakashi trailed off as they both fell silent.

After a tension-filled moment, the pink-haired young woman finally asked, "Is that what you were trying to ask?"

"No . . . and yes," he said cryptically as he reached up to scratch the back of his head nervously. "I guess what I'm trying to ask is . . ."

"Yes?"

The words of a confession sat on the tip of his tongue, ready to be spat out and said if he could have just opened his mouth to speak them. Yet, with one glance at Sakura's puzzled face, the words left his head along with his courage to take a chance once and for all. She didn't want to hear him at the moment, and certainly didn't want to talk about this. After everything, he could not have blamed her for wanting to just ignore everything. Part of him wished they could both ignore this problem too. It would have been so easy for him to just say nothing, to keep on pretending she meant nothing more to him than life itself. To just be with her and to be her friend would be more than enough, wouldn't it? That was all he ever wanted, just someone to care about his existence, and she did; to be beside him, and she was. What was the point of ruining all that with something as foolish as romantic love?

It wasn't like she knew he did love her or anything. If anything, he could love her his own way, silently and from a distance, at least for a little while longer, no matter how much he wanted to kiss her again. As long as she was still his, some things he could learn to live without. "It's nothing, forget it," Kakashi said as he suddenly turned away, walking out towards the other rooms. "I'll go make you some breakfast."

"I'm not that hungry."

"I'm not that hungry either," he admitted with a sharp, calming intake of breath, "Doesn't mean you won't be hungry when you're done."

" . . . You're just saying that so you can do something remotely normal," Sakura observed as he stopped in the doorway himself. For a moment, she swore she heard a bitter laugh from the older man, but she must have been mistaken since she couldn't find anything remotely funny in what she had just said. Regardless, Kakashi was grinning to himself when he replied, "Normalcy isn't exactly something shinobi do very well."

That was a sentiment she could readily agree with, but didn't say as much as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The silver-haired man closed the door behind him as well as he walked through to the kitchen. Each step brought into harsh reality the consequences of their now finished conversation.

Everything was the same as before, except not exactly the same, not really, since they had talked but really said nothing except one thing, a reiteration of their friendship. Damn, he should have had the courage to say something, but he didn't. Now, he couldn't say anything, at least not while she wanted to be 'just friends'. Status-quo would once again rule the day no matter how he felt, and he would be blissfully going along with it. Sakura would get what she wanted, but . . .

Fiddling with the steel tea kettle left on the counter, Kakashi couldn't bring himself to believe that this continued ignorance was what she really wanted. Maybe he was hoping for too much, but it didn't seem to him that a continuation of their 'just friends' relationship was what they both really wanted. He knew Sakura, didn't he? If he knew her so well, then he had to know that she was as scared of love and everything that came with it as he was. Ok, maybe not the same as he was, but still. The point was that her words just couldn't be the end, could it? There had to be more. Then again, he had to believe there was more. If he stopped believing, then that terrible, painful feeling, the one that made him want to say the most ridiculous, sentimental things to her would never go away.

Who was he kidding really? She believed as much in love as he did, which was nothing short of total disillusionment with the entire idea. Her past relationships had left her entirely disappointed in the notion, and all he'd ever seen love do was destroy his friends, first Obito, and then Rin. For all the lofty ideals it held, it never worked, not for him or anyone else. If he really did love Sakura, it would be better if he just kept it to himself, otherwise it would only lead to disappointment for them both.

Frowning, Kakashi gave up on confessing anything he as filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove to heat. In the distance, he could hear the shower starting. The image in his head at that moment of her naked body, wet with water and steam, was not one he needed at that moment. Thinking about sex had been what got him into this problem in the first place. Love and sex together though was a combination that was poised to drive him more insane than he was already. He had to get out of there and do something, anything, to distract him from her. Usually, the only thing he used to distract himself with from all his problems was work. At that moment, the idea of work sounded very appealing. If it didn't remind him of Sakura, then it was all the better.

* * *

Genma frowned deeply as he lowered the binoculars after watching Kakashi step out into the cold and bound off for parts unknown. His friend was running from his problems, figuratively and literally now, that much was obvious. Sitting slouched over on the bed, he glanced sideways to see Ino pacing the floor with such speed and furious stomping that he was sure she'd put a dent in the carpet sooner or later. Normally, he would be the one acting out for the both of them, but the blonde sounded so lovely swearing under her breath that he didn't feel like disturbing her.

"Damn you, Forehead! Are you blind?! That man was a split second away from telling you how he really feels about you and you cut him off! And for what?! A shower!" she stopped in her ranting to turn to the brown-haired shinobi, throwing her arms up. "She wanted a shower! Can you believe that?!"

"Well, she did look like she'd been . . . well . . ." For the first time in a long time, Genma couldn't say anything crude, not even if he wanted to. Admittedly, after the previous night, a long, hot shower sounded good to him too. "It's been a rough night for them. I didn't expect them to suddenly throw themselves at each other or anything . . ."

"No, I didn't either, but, damnit! Now they're avoiding each other! Why can't they just be sensible adults and admit their feelings that are so painfully obvious?! It's like they want to be in this kind of pain or something! They're both so stupid, and stubborn, and scared, and-! Argh!"

He nodded in agreement even if she wasn't paying any attention to him at that moment. As much as he sympathized with Kakashi's situation of being in love with someone who might not love him back, he at least expected the Great Copy Nin to be less of well . . .

Well, he couldn't deny it anymore. Both of them were obviously chickens when it came to taking that next step in relationships. He just expected Kakashi to be better than him, and he wasn't. As disappointed as he was, Genma didn't say anything since Ino obviously felt the same about Sakura. The more he thought about the parallels between both women and himself with Kakashi, the more it amused him with how all four of them were generally so inept when it came to love. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more disappointed he became in himself as well. Here he was trying to help his friend fix his love life, and he couldn't even fix his own.

Completely oblivious to her partner's own dilemma, the blonde flounced around the room with a huff, pivoting sharply on her heels. "Why can't this be like it was between Neji and Tenten, those two were so easy to figure out!" Ino shouted as she continued to pace.

Genma's eyebrows rose up in interest as he let her continue uninterrupted. "I mean, it wasn't even that hard to get them to admit how they felt, not after Naruto locked them in the utility closet near the roof of the Hokage tower, but still!"

He blinked at the revelation. "Naruto locked two people in a closet?"

She stopped pacing to turn to him, nodding emphatically. "Yeah, well . . . it was kind of a group effort, but he started it."

"What happened?"

"Nothing but arguing to begin with, but after fifteen minutes, not only were they all over each other but they started dating soon afterwards. They've been stuck together since."

"That wasn't what I meant. I meant, how exactly did locking them in a closet work?"

"Well, they did kind of like each other already."

"Ino . . . you're going to have to elaborate."

"Oh come on. Everyone in the village knew Tenten was madly in love with the brooding Hyuga, except for him of course, but girls never make the first move, and she knew his clan wouldn't approve unless he fought for her. I can't blame Naruto for wanting to fix them up after he married Hinata, being related now and all, and asked the rest of us for help. He figured all Neji needed was a little push in the right direction."

"A little push?"

"Yeah, just some help to get over his pride and be alone with her for ten minutes or so to figure out how he felt one way or the other. So . . . we locked them together and put exploding tags on the door and vents so they couldn't escape," Ino explained, sitting again in her chair by the telescope. "If Sakura and Kakashi weren't so good at escaping, I'd be tempted to lock them up too-"

A light bulb went off in the shinobi's head as if it has just been lit by an exploding tag. "What did you just say?" Genma asked with a start.

She blinked. "I said if Sakura and Kakashi weren't so good at escaping, I'd lock them up in a closet to sort out their problems too."

And just as easily as that, a plot was hatched, one so crazy it just might be the answer to all their problems. "That's it," he muttered to himself. "It's brilliant, so brilliant I think I just overwhelmed myself with sheer genius and ingenuity."

Ino smirked at him. "I'll believe that when I see it."

Instead of snarking some wisecracking response back at the blonde, Genma smiled at her instead, as if she'd just given him the greatest compliment in the world. It was partially scary to see him so happy that she shrank back slightly. "What did I say?" she asked, resisting the urge to fidget in her chair, "Why are you smiling at me?"

"Because I couldn't have come up with it without you."

She blinked. "Now you're scaring me . . ."

Genma's smile turned into a grin as he stood up and grabbed his coat. Before she could say a word, he tossed her coat over towards her as well. Ino caught it easily, staring as him as he walked towards the hotel room door. "Come on. We have very little time to do a lot of planning."

She didn't argue as she pulled her arms into the sleeves. "Where are we going and why?"

"The Minagawa building for recon."

"Recon? Of what?"

"I guess you could call it a large, steel box with which to trap our poor, misguided, lovelorn victims in."

Ino blinked again, not quite understanding him but following all the same. After years of dealing with similar genius in the form of Shikamaru, she had become used to being given the full details of a plan while en route to certain doom. Sighing to herself, she followed him out of the hotel room. "Well, at least we're doing something finally, right?"

If she knew what Genma had in mind though, she might have taken those words right back.

* * *

After a warm shower, Sakura came out of the bathroom to find the hotel room deserted. Kakashi was nowhere to be found, but oddly enough, she wasn't upset about that. She hadn't expected him to stick around and wait for her to finish. In fact, after their small talk, she fully expected the ninja to do what he did best and throw himself into work, which meant coming up with the next step to their convoluted plans. She found a note he left telling her not to worry in the kitchen alongside a plate of food and a warm pot of tea. It was a nice, friendly gesture, a thing she hadn't expected from him at all.

Still, it wasn't the same room without his presence there, even if she didn't want to see at that moment him either. Glancing over towards the window, she knew he was out in the cold and snow somewhere right now, possibly watching Hiro, comforting Jun, or tracking Takara's next move while avoiding returning to their hotel suite at all costs. She didn't blame him. If given the choice between action and being with him, she would have chosen action too.

Maybe not discussing the situation was a mistake after all. Maybe everything was a mistake, this entire mission, their partnership, everything. Honestly, she didn't know any more. She didn't want things to stay like this, full of tension and uncertainty, but she didn't want them to change either. Not knowing how to feel about Kakashi anymore scared her. For the longest time, he had remained the one constant thing in her life, and now it felt like that steady rock was slipping away.

She should have known better than to play around with such things as love. After failing two times already with other men in her life, you'd think she would have learned her lesson. Her experiences should have taught her that she wasn't cut out to be in relationships that were anything but platonic. She should just be honest with herself. She didn't want to fall in love, not with anyone, and here she was, doing the same thing all over again with the one person she couldn't risk losing.

Sakura shook her head, trying to deny that thought. No, she didn't love him. She wouldn't fall again. Third time wasn't the charm, and even if she couldn't stop it, she certainly wouldn't let this one end like the others. This time, she wouldn't do anything to let on her own feelings. She cared about Kakashi too much to lose him to something like love. He was the only thing that mattered to her. No matter what she could possibly feel, he needed her too much, and she needed him. They'd been through too much together for it to end now over something so confoundedly stupid. If she really did love him like she feared, then she would be silent, for both of their sakes. It would be better that way, she just knew it. Being friends was better than being nothing at all.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sakura rubbed her eyes. It was only midday, and she was already bone tired. Being full from eating, and having not slept the night before probably did that to her. Without even thinking, she had slipped into her pajamas after her shower. With nothing else to do, a nap sounded too good to resist. Sakura flopped back on the bed, staring straight up.

Odd, Kakashi hadn't even pulled down the covers from the night before. Wiggling around on the bed, she shoved them out from under her body then pulled them back up as she rolled onto her side. Even with the new covers bundled around her, she felt cold as she curled up to hug herself. Again, it felt odd without his familiar weight sinking down the bed behind her. As tired as she was, she wasn't even sure she could fall asleep without him there.

Still, it only took a few minutes before her eyelids started to feel heavy. Shivering slightly cold under all the covers yet, Sakura fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

Kakashi stepped down from the garden wall and onto the icy path. It was close to sunset when he had gotten to Jun's home after spending all day watching Hiro's apartment and then Takara. Sakura had been right. The blonde demoness was definitely not there, and not once had he tired to call her. Instead all the phone calls the Vice President of Minagawa Eastern Trading had placed had been work related as he watched the man punch in number after number. Likewise, Takara's place in Nobu's mansion had been turned into a disaster area in the angry woman's wake. Obviously, she wasn't happy about this turn of events, which briefly made him feel a small bit happy.

Still, he couldn't help but feel concerned. Without Takara's continued influence over Hiro and pushing for the board to vote for him, there was no telling what could happen now. The vote was only a matter of days away. Simply ruining the man's reputation wasn't going to secure Jun-san's future in her own company. And so, that was why he stood outside the snow-covered mansion, watching the lights within be turned on one by one in the growing darkness. At least if he couldn't solve his own problems, he could solve one unhappy woman's misfortune.

Silently, Kakashi crept up to the double doors, and let himself into the living room of the house. Closing them again, a cool draft followed at his feet into the otherwise warm house. Jun, who had been lounging on the chaise as she was the first night the ninja visited her, turned her head to peer over her shoulder at the rush of coldness. "Hatake-san?"

"Good evening, Jun-san."

Sitting up straight again, the dark-haired woman smiled at him as she pointed towards one of the chairs next to her. "Please, sit, and tell me to what I do owe this visit?"

For once, she seemed in good spirits compared to the other times they had met. At least she wasn't drinking. In fact, the lady looked rather well, sitting elegantly poised in her red dress on the matching chaise. Something was off or else it was just his misinterpretation. Cautiously, he moved around the room to the offered chair and had a seat after loosening his dark coat. "You look well, Jun-san, at least compared to when we last spoke," Kakashi said as he studied her.

A small smile graced her lips. "Well, it's just that I've been getting accustomed to living with Hiro, you see. Maybe I am just being foolish over him after all. What matters most right now is the company, my own personal problems aside. I've been trying to fix that as much as possible these past few days."

". . . I see."

"Don't mistake me, Hatake-san. I am grateful to your help and Haruno-san's. I don't think I could have come this far with the support of either of you, and thank you."

"You're welcome. This isn't exactly what I came to here to speak to you about though . . ."

Almost immediately the change of tone made the happy look on the older woman's face disappear, as if she knew whatever news he brought would shatter her mood regardless. "Oh . . ." she murmured before nodding, "I see . . . you had better continue."

"Well . . . I can report that Takara is no longer with your husband for the time being."

Jun's brown eyes widened at Kakashi in shock, not quite believing what she was hearing. "What? How?"

"I would rather not discuss the how's of what happened, only that it is done."

"I see . . . well then I am most grateful."

"She is not out of the picture entirely though, and I believe your husband will still push for control of Eastern Trading even without her influence."

An even graver look fell across Jun's face. "I see . . . What do you plan to do next?"

"I am not entirely too sure myself." Kakashi admitted, leaning back heavily in the chair. It was the truth alright. He wasn't sure about anything, not even his partner, a feeling he wasn't used to having. Uncertainty usually made him overly cautious, and when he was cautious was usually when he made mistakes. In the job of a shinobi, mistakes were unaffordable, costing them either a life, a mission, or something equally as valuable. Distracted in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice Jun staring at him until he heard her clear her voice. He blinked, looking up to see an amused look on her face. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just unused to seeing so . . ."

Kakashi frowned as he was caught. "Frustration does lead one to distraction sometimes."

"Is something bothering you then?"

"Nothing in particular," he lied through his teeth, not that Jun-san would ever notice with the scarf covering his lower face.

"How is Haruno-san then? As frustrated as you are I take it?"

A half-hearted grin crept up onto his face at the mention of Sakura. "Yes, I suppose she is. It is not a situation we are familiar with finding ourselves in."

In more ways than one to be sure. "So, that's why you're here then, for my help?" Jun asked as she stood up, walking slowly towards the kitchen across the room.

He followed her with his eye, turning in the chair as he saw her reach into one of the cabinets and take out a clear glass bottle along with two small glasses. "Not so much your help as your input . . . and your agreement to whatever next step is taken," Kakashi explained as she walked back, placing a glass on the table before him."

She removed the cut crystal stopper from the top of the bottle and poured two drinks. Immediately, he could smell the clean scent of sake, and he was grateful even if he didn't reach for glass. "Thank you, but now isn't a time for drinking."

Jun placed the bottle between them and sat down again on the chaise. "The way you talk, as well as your general mood, drinking is more than allowable, even required. In fact, I insist on a drink."

"Jun-san . . ."

"I am too old to be told what to do by you or anyone else," she snapped at him while snatching the drink off the table. Raising the glass to her lips, she stopped just before the cool crystal could touch her skin. Sighing, she put the cup back down with a heavy clink. "You know," she started to say as she fiddled her fingers, "Before you darkened my doorstep tonight, I thought no news was good news. I thought I had reason to hope maybe that everything would be alright."

"It will be, Jun-san, but we need to secure your position in the company first."

"Damn the company!" she shouted, shooting to her feet, "I want my husband back! I want that happiness back! That company won't give me that! I thought after she was gone, he would be here, begging to be back in my life. I thought he would have seen how ridiculous this entire thing is, but he hasn't! Even without her, he's still being headstrong in fighting me! I thought . . . I thought part of him still loved me . . ."

Jun turned away, her shoulders shaking slightly as she sank back onto the chaise. He knew she was holding back tears, but that wasn't what troubled him. No, it was the fact of how she looked when he first arrived and then now. "You knew," Kakashi muttered, wishing he'd had that drink now. "We're not the only people monitoring Hiro's movements, are we?"

"No," she admitted with a slight sniffle. "After I heard about Takara, I hired a private investigator to watch his apartment and to tap his phone."

Even if his eye remained as droopy as normal, internally he was staring at her in wide-eyed shock. She knew everything then, even about himself and Sakura. Suddenly, Kakashi's heart leapt into his throat. Well, this was embarrassing, yet another emotion he wasn't used to feeling, especially in the presence of a client. "How much did this investigator tell you?" he asked cautiously.

"Only what I needed to know."

"I see . . ."

That did not make him feel any better at all.

"I know what you and Haruno-san did to him last night." Jun said reassuringly, "That does not trouble me since it appeared to work, but . . . I thought with her gone, that he would come home."

He didn't know what to say, left speechless as she stared at the table and the sake. "The investigator said that all the phone calls he placed today were to board members. Even without her, he's continuing his 'campaign' against me. I am going to go back to work on Monday and fix this myself." Jun said with all the resolve he expected from the president of a large company.

"How can we assist you?" Kakashi asked.

"By doing nothing."

He blinked, "Nothing?"

"You and Haruno-san have done enough for me in this time by giving me hope. I know now that he is not coming back, so it is time I did something to, as you say, secure my position for myself. Feeling guilt and doing nothing will not solve anything."

"Is that truly what you wish? Our mission is over?"

"No, I would still like you both to report to me each day in my office in case I am wrong, but . . . I will be in control of my own fate now, one way or another."

"What about Hiro?"

"As long as I act in the company's interests rather than my own, the board can find no reason to fire me."

Somehow, that didn't convince Kakashi any more than if she'd claimed to have invisible chakra armor. "He will still push for your replacement at the board's vote anyway, you know this of course," he pointed out.

She nodded once. "I know my husband well enough to know my presence won't scare him into backing down now that he's made up his mind."

"Then you know he cannot be left alone."

She nodded once again, and then sighed. "I know my husband well enough to know how much trouble he can be."

"Give us one more chance to remove him. I'm sure we can-"

Jun interrupted him with a raise of her hand. "No, that is now necessary. He is my husband after all."

The soft, remorseful smile she gave him was enough to make Kakashi let the subject go. Much like Sakura, there wouldn't be any more arguing with her once she'd made up her mind. Even if it was what she wanted, it did not sit well with him. As capable and resourceful of a woman as he knew Jun to be, and surely she was or else she wouldn't be the head of her own company, he also knew that her husband was more than underhanded and ungrateful enough to be dangerous to her. If he wasn't, she wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. As much as didn't want to disagree with her, the nagging feeling that she was making a mistake wouldn't go away.

He didn't much like feeling useless either. Helping her had been why they were sent there in the first place. If she didn't want them to do anything or even finish what they had been assigned, then why did they have to stick around? Given everything that had happened, he was looking forward to being in Konohagakure and away from Sakura too much. The only thing he could do was to sigh internally and recite a common mantra he'd honed after many years of dealing with changes in missions. _The client knows best. The client knows best._

Kakashi stood up from the chair and buttoned his coat. "If there's nothing else to discuss, then I should be going."

He had barely taken a step away when she spoke, "Actually, I would like you to sit again, Hatake-san."

From her serious tone of voice, he knew that this discussion would not be one he'd like. "Respectfully, Jun-san, there's nothing else to say. We will report in the morning."

"This is not about your job here. You must know that."

"Which is why it would be better if we did not continue this talk," Kakashi said with a polite nod before turning and heading towards the door.

"Would you like to know something about Haruno-san?"

He stopped just as his hand touched the doorknob. There couldn't possibly be anything Jun-san could say about Sakura that he didn't know already. Yet, there wasn't any harm in humoring the older woman was there? In the end, his curiosity was much too peaked by the idea that she knew something about his own partner that he didn't. Silently, Kakashi turned to glance at her, one questioning silver eyebrow rising up. Jun smiled, once again amused by him. "You remember the night she visited me, correct?"

"I do."

"Well, she was rather forceful in denying that she held any feelings for you outside of your partnership."

Just as he thought, she knew nothing he didn't know already. His eye returned to its normal droopy stare, this time with a slight bit more disappointment. "Thank you for telling me, Jun-san."

"But you're missing the point, Hatake-san. It was not what she said, but how she said."

"Then how did she say it?" he asked, trying his best not to sound annoyed by this entire discussion."

"She said it like a woman so bent on denying the truth that she would lie even to herself just to make it so."

It took much effort on Kakashi's part not to snort derisively at her overly-romantic sentiments. She couldn't be serious. Sakura was stubborn, just like he was, just like they all were. When she made up her mind, she stuck to it like ink to paper, unmovable and inerasable, to say nothing of honesty. Even if they were in the habit of keeping secrets and lying for their occupation, one thing the kunoichi never did was lie about her feelings. In fact, she made personal statements quiet forcefully at times, usually accompanied with a mean left jab. If she wanted him to believe that Sakura would lie about her feelings for him, then either his lovely partner was even deeper in denial than he was, or Jun had been sneaking drinks of that sake before he had showed up.

Either way, he didn't believe it, not for a moment. "Thank you for telling me. I'll keep it in mind when I see Haruno-san again."

"You're brushing me off, aren't you?" she said with a continued amused smile.

"On the contrary, Jun-san, I value your opinion very much."

"Ha, and now you're patronizing me. Either you are as much in denial as she is, or you are lying to me."

Kakashi blinked at the accusation, and then glared at her, "Again, respectfully, I don't think we should continue this line of discussion."

"I did hear all of last night's adventure, you know."

"I do know, and I would like for that business to remain between myself and Sakura. It is nothing for you to concern yourself with," he muttered, sounding much more civil than he intended as he successfully controlled his rising anger. Really, after this morning, he was in no mood to discuss the same thing with Jun at all. He had every right to be mad for not being told earlier that they weren't the only professionals working for her, let alone the invasion of their privacy. Why did she even bother herself trying to talk to him about a subject he wished he could have forgotten himself? What advice could she possibly give seeing as how she had failed with her own husband?

Jun had to know that as she turned after from him to stare at the two drinks on the table before her. "Fine then. Go. Just know that I am concerned for you both. I selected your team because I expected professionals, and if you cannot even act professional in your personal lives, then what am I to think about your work?"

"I understand, Jun-san. It won't happen again."

"I honestly don't care what you both do amongst yourselves so long as you're happy. I am not blind, you know. I knew the moment you walked in here that something was wrong. Perhaps if you would just talk-"

"Quite frankly, there isn't anything to discuss."

". . . I see," Jun said, frowning to herself, "You really are as stubborn as Haruno-san said."

"She is one to talk about stubbornness."

"Then you both are perfect for each other."

Kakashi's frown increased at her turned back. If she was trying to convince him to admit his feelings for Sakura, it wasn't working. The more she spoke, the more he was certain that she didn't have the damnedest idea of what she was talking about. For one evil moment, he wanted to say just that, to call her the old fool she was, but could bring himself to do it. Jun had suffered enough at the hands of love, and it wasn't his place to throw that fact in her face, not even if he wanted to and not even if she deserved it. "Good night, Jun-san, and I hope you won't try to bring up this topic again," he said as he opened the door and stepped outside.

"Good night, Hatake-san, and I hope Haruno-san has more sense than you."

Somehow, he doubted that.

* * *

The night had grown colder and stormy by the time Kakashi had stepped down into the balcony. Peering inside, he could see all the rooms of the hotel suite were dark except for the faint moonlight peeking through the clouds. Silently, he slid the glass doors open and stepped inside then closed them quickly behind him. Sakura laid on the bed covered up and turned away from him, sleeping on her side as usual. She didn't move an inch in disturbance from the cold or the shadow he cast across the room and her. It was a good thing too. She looked too beautiful to wake up at that moment, especially for what he wanted to say to her.

The walk back from Jun's home had made him think, a dangerous distraction at a time when he couldn't afford to be distracted. The older woman had been right about some things, and completely wrong about others. As good as it was that she wished to take matters into her own hands, she was wrong to think that she could do it alone and without her determined husband neutralized. She was also wrong to think that she had some insight into Sakura's feelings when it was obvious she had none. Who did she think she was? A matchmaker? Yet, as he stood there watching his sleeping partner, he could see why Jun had tried to get him to talk.

He really was frowning the whole time he was there, wasn't he?

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a third emotion he wasn't used to feeling, pathetic-ness. He really should have told Sakura how he felt, but he was too scared that telling her would mean the end of their partnership one way or another. This was the right course, wasn't it? Anything so he didn't lose her was worth it. If he couldn't even touch her though, if it wasn't the same as before between them, then was it really that worth it? He wasn't so sure anymore, then again, there were a lot of things he was unsure of except how he felt.

If she could only see how he loved her, then maybe she would understand. Until then, there was nothing he could do except keep on looking at her when he thought she wouldn't notice.

He shucked off the heavy coat, tossing it onto a chair. Taking his time, he took off his clothes and changed into his usual dark pajamas, all the while stealing glances at the sleeping young woman. Funny how watching her sleep was making him tired. Eventually, Kakashi pulled down the covers and slid into the bed behind her. For a moment, all he could do was to stare at her back, watching the gentle rise and fall with each breath she took and the way her hair looked in the low light, a pale shade of lilac instead of pink. It took a great deal of effort to peel his eye away as he eventually turned onto his side away from her. This was going to be a long night.

"Kakashi?"

He heard her voice whisper behind him, and his heart suddenly felt gripped in pain. "Y-yes?"

Damn, did he just stutter?

"I'm cold, can you grab another blanket?"

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Kakashi then sat up to see no other blankets around the suite in plain sight. He laid back down and fidgeted slightly to get comfortable. "I don't see any in plain sight. It can't be that cold."

"No, it isn't. I just feel cold . . ."

"You were awake?"

"I heard your boots on the snow."

"Oh . . . so you were pretending to be asleep?"

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"Oh . . ."

"Where did you go?"

He thought about it a moment then decided against telling her everything right then and there. "We'll talk about it in the morning. We're both tired."

Sakura didn't say anything after than, or move either, except for one small shiver. How she could possibly be that cold was beyond him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah . . . just cold . . ."

Shifting in the bed, Kakashi rolled over and reached across to place a hand on her bare forearm before even thinking for one moment about what he was doing. Her skin felt warm to the touch, not hot and sweaty and certainly not cold either. Either she was lying, or she was sick, and she didn't sound one bit miserably sick, which meant. "Liar," he grumbled before pulling his hand away.

"So are you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your hands are cold too," she grumbled in response as she snuggled under the covers. He didn't roll back, but continued to stare at her turned away figure. Ok, so she was right. His hands were cold. That didn't make him a liar like she was. Still, no matter what she called him or thought of him as, he could stay mad at her. When it came to Sakura, he really was pathetic, wasn't he? Unconsciously, he shifted closer to her until the scent of fresh plum and cherry blossoms filled his nose. This would be about as close as he would get to her from now on, wouldn't it? He heard her take a deep breath as he held his, letting the scent of her hair linger in his senses a little while longer. "Good night, Sakura," he whispered.

She didn't say anything back, already having fallen into a deep and once more fitful sleep. That night he decided to sleep just behind her, turned to face her in a manner that was definitely unlike the familial way they had taken to in the past. There was nothing brotherly like in the way he was seeing her now, so why even bother to keep up the charade? If this would be the only way he could get close to her, then so be it. He'd take whatever small advantage he could get without taking advantage of her.

Slowly, Kakashi fell asleep as well, and fitfully as well. Really, how could he peacefully sleep anyway knowing the one person he wanted most was so close to him, and yet the space between them seemed so very far away? And strangely enough, it was all for the sake of keeping up appearances between them.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 15 of Dirty Deeds, The Best of Intentions. 


	15. The Best of Intentions

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 15 – The Best of Intentions

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: See Part 1.

* * *

"Are you in position?"

"I will be in about five seconds. Keep your mask on," Sakura grumbled, seemingly to be talking to herself as she walked down the hallway past a line of offices. While she did get a few looks for her signature pink hair, no one stopped her as she made her way towards Hiro's office. "This isn't exactly a comfortable place to be in, you know," Kakashi grumbled back into her ear via the earpiece hidden by her hair and under the high collared black sweater she wore, one standard issue comm link.

She fidgeted, pulling at the collar in annoyance. It felt tight, too tight, like it would constrict around her throat like a snake any moment. Her feet in those high heels were killing her too. Whoever stuck it in the company dress code for women to wear them to work must have been a man. The only part of her entire wardrobe that wasn't annoying the hell out of her was the plain grey straight skirt she wore, but even that was a bit restricting. She should have chosen something else, like slacks, so then she'd have some freedom of movement in case this entire plan went down hill. If the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach was to be believed, then things would be going that way for certain. "Remind me quickly why we're doing this again?"

"Because Jun-san told us not to interfere?"

"You sure this isn't because your ego couldn't take being told we're suddenly useless?"

". . ."

"Is that a yes?"

"No, we're doing this because Hiro needs to be taken care of, whether she wishes it or not."

It sounded like such a convincing when they were planning this ridiculous mission, but now that she was about fifteen feet from the Vice President's office, she wasn't so sure. Jun had a point perhaps. If she was ever going to feel independent enough to run Minagawa Eastern Trading, she needed to do things on her own. Relying on two ninjas to clean up her mess wasn't exactly going to help, especially if they messed it up. They were walking dangerously close to the line of being unmasked as it was. Just one screw up and they would be breaking the paramount tenant of their mission: don't get caught and have it lead back to Jun. She should have just turned around and called it off, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to think that Kakashi was wrong either.

When had he ever been wrong about anything?

. . . Well, ok, he was wrong once so far on their current mission, but it was a total fluke! His instincts were bar none the best in the village . . . next to hers, and hers at the moment were screaming at her to get the hell out of there and call the whole thing off. That thought didn't make Sakura feel any better as she avoided the gaze of Hiro's secretary while walking past. "So you're absolutely sure about this? It's not too late to call this off."

"Sakura, I did not just crawl up fifty feet of ventilation in the freezing cold for us to back out now."

"What if we get caught?"

"We'll think of something."

"This is never going to work."

"You've always said that about my plans, but yet somehow everything always seems to work out, doesn't it?"

"And how exactly does that happen?"

"I don't know. It's a mystery."

". . ."

"What?"

"I really hate you some times, you know that?"

"I love you too, Sakura."

She stopped mid-step at his choice of phrase. He did not just say that. He did not just mean that! . . . Did he? A sinking, uncomfortable feeling crept into the pit of the kunoichi's stomach. This was highly awkward, especially given how both of them had been avoiding all discussion on such things for the past few days. Why did he have to say that now? She needed to focus, not nearly have a heart attack! Was he trying to kill her or worse, get them both caught! Despite what he had said, she really, really did hate him at that moment for making her want to turn a lovely shade of red reminiscent of a tomato.

On the other end of the comm, Kakashi had gone acutely quiet as well, too quiet, so quiet that mouse could have made more noise in her ear piece at that moment that he would. Was he even breathing?

"Kakashi?"

He was still quite for a long moment before said matter-of-factly, "This is highly . . . awkward."

Slowly, Sakura let out the breath she'd been holding. "Just . . . don't try to discuss it or say anything else for that matter, at least not until I pull this off."

Blessedly, he didn't say anything after that, which she took as his agreement to keep quiet. One day, he would be the death of her. She just knew it.

Glancing around as she rounded the corner, she spotted Kiko coming out of a small kitchen on that floor, balancing a pot of coffee with a large stack of folders while a book was precariously tucked under her arm and an envelope held between her lips. It must have been a busy morning, and yet she was right on schedule still. For a moment, the pink-haired woman almost felt sorry for Hiro's frazzled assistant, especially if what the two ninja were about to do was successful. She took a breath and held it before taking a step forward. "I'm going in."

She never should have listened to him in the first place.

* * *

After falling asleep feeling freezing cold the night before, Sakura woke up that morning strangely warm, like she had snuggled with a heating blanket. The sensation left her feeling languid, and lazy. Bitter winds rattled the windows, making her want to stay right there as long as she could. Getting up would be impossible, even more so knowing that once she crawled out of bed, she'd have to face him. Groaning, Sakura ducked back under the covers, pulling them tightly over her head. Five minutes then she'd get up, right? Just five and maybe she could sort through the tangle of thoughts running circles around her head. Maybe it wouldn't be so uncomfortable around Kakashi this morning. Maybe he wouldn't keep staring at her to the point where every single hair on the back of her neck stood to attention. Maybe things would once again be blessedly normal between them, but she knew that probably wouldn't be happening any time soon. She could hope at least, couldn't she?

Sighing to herself, she turned onto her back and reached behind her to feel if he was still sleeping. The bed was warm still, but Kakashi wasn't there. She didn't hear the shower running, or him rattling around the room, which meant either he was in the kitchen waiting for her or he wasn't there at all. Sakura stared up at the ceiling and bit down another sigh. She really shouldn't keep him waiting, but getting up was impossible with the number of butterflies nauseating her stomach. Damnit, she shouldn't be acting this childish! She was twenty-two after all, and a kunoichi of the Leaf! There wasn't anything wrong in what she did. It was just business, and Kakashi was just her partner. She shouldn't be feeling so nervous or so guilty around him, and yet she inexplicably was feeling just that.

Her toes curled as she wiggled her feet to begrudgingly pull down the covers. It was just Kakashi after all. What was the worst that could happen except a few cracked egg shells?

Forcing herself to move, Sakura swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. The bedroom door was open and the living room on the other side was empty. Getting to her feet, she grabbed the fallen covers off of the bed and wrapped them over her body, feeling cold once again without their warmth. She stepped delicately out of the bedroom and across to the kitchen, clutching the blanket tightly as she peeked inside. Instantly, she wished she hadn't as she ducked back of the doorway.

Kakashi looked up from the table towards the blur of pink in his peripheral vision, his hands wrapped around a hot cup of tea. "Sleeping beauty has awakened."

The butterflies in her stomach fluttered en masse, fighting to break free. Why did he have to call her that? "I'd rather be back in bed," Sakura grumbled truthfully, finally forcing her feet to shuffle into the kitchen. "You're up early. And you made tea."

"Sit down. We need to talk."

She was half to the pot sitting on the stove when those butterflies convulsed again at those four words. She really didn't feel like talking. Glancing over her shoulder sorrowfully, she watched as he took another sip of his tea, and then pulled his mask back up into place. Kakashi didn't look at her, but sat there peacefully, as if he was contemplating something else entirely. He was purposefully being aloof, like he wasn't ever there at all, and she hated him for it. If he had a problem, he should have just come out and said it! Surely she wasn't the only one still confused and nervous over what had happened not too many nights ago. Why did he have to be so . . . cold? As Sakura's eyes drifted downwards, she notice only one other thing on the bare table, a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid.

Her green eyes narrowed on the object. "What's that doing here?"

Kakashi's eyes widened a moment, as if she had startled him, and then glanced downwards at the vial in question. "Oh, this thing? Why, it's why we need to talk."

Despite all the nervousness she felt, there was an undeniable, irresistible pull in his words that tugged directly on her curiosity. He knew her too well to know exactly what to say to make her interested. Sakura moved quickly to fill another tea cup conveniently left on the counter, and then walked over to the table with the hot drink in hand. She slid into the chair across from him, tugging on the blanket fitfully. "Alright, talk."

"As of this morning, Jun-san has requested that we withhold assisting her further."

Sakura blinked. "What? Are we fired?"

"No, just that we do not interfere anymore in her situation."

"Are we going home?"

"No, our contract is until after the board votes, so, we're to report to Jun-san's office as normal."

"And do nothing!?" Sakura yelled at him, ready to jump out of her chair until she noticed how her partner didn't react at all. She calmed down and put her tea cup down on the table. "Why? What happened?"

"Nothing has happened except our client's heart has changed once again," Kakashi explained. "She has surveillance on her husband in addition to us. They saw everything . . ."

A shocked shriek quickly turned into a mortified whine as she pulled the blanket over her head, burying herself in it. Maybe if she was lucky, she could disappear right there! What if they had pictures, or video?! Jun probably not only knew she had received oral sex from her partner, but kissed Hiro as well! Even Kakashi didn't know that. She'd never be able to look the woman in the face again! At that very moment, she wished the floor would just open up and swallow her chair whole so she didn't have to sit there any longer. It seemed like such a better option opposed to dying of embarrassment. "Sakura . . ." she heard her partner grumble as she stayed stubbornly buried under the blanket, "You can't hide your face forever."

She frowned to herself. So said the man who routinely wore a mask for as long as she ever knew him, until recently at least.

After almost a minute of watching her just sit there, hidden under the blanket, unmoving whatsoever, he sat back in the chair while biting down a sigh. "Your embarrassment was not the reason I even brought it up," Kakashi explained, "The point I was trying to make was that Jun-san knew that Takara had left before I even spoke to her. She also knew that Hiro had been making phone calls all day after you left, to more board members . . ."

Slowly, Sakura peeked at him through the blanket's folds but didn't say anything.

"She doesn't want us interfering any more because she is convinced Hiro isn't coming home, not now, and not ever. I suppose it is proof enough, but . . ."

"But you think we should be doing something to help her anyway?" she finished for him, sounding skeptical as she finally came out of her blanket cocoon. "What exactly does she hope to accomplish now anyway?"

"She wants to turn the company around on her own, and thus the opinion of the board."

"Well, she's a strong woman. She doesn't need us for that."

Kakashi stared at her, first with surprise then growing disapproval. Usually, he thought Sakura was brighter than this. Something in the past couple of days must have sapped her intelligence. Then again, he wasn't exactly a model of clear thought at that moment either. This was all beside the point though! The point was that Jun needed them . . . wasn't it?

He took a quick, calming breath before he confused himself as well, ignoring how she looked back at him with a frowning pout as well. "What Jun-san says she wants and what Jun-san actually needs are two different things. You know that."

"Rule number one of dealing with clients, the client is always right. You're not seriously thinking of breaking that rule, are you?"

"No matter what Jun-san wishes to do, it does not change the fact that her husband is out for her job, which makes him dangerous," Kakashi said with a matter-of-fact nod.

As much as she wanted to defend Jun's choice, there was definite logic in what he pointed out. "She isn't going to like us interfering anymore . . ." Sakura said, nearly fidgeting in her chair.

He smirked at her while tapping the vial on the table along the black eyedropper top. "Not if she doesn't know what we've done to him . . ."

A pink eyebrow rose up. "Are you implying that we drug Jun?"

His dark eye narrowed onto her for such a stupid suggestion, "Of course not, don't be ridiculous. I'm implying that we drug Hiro, again."

Sakura blinked as Kakashi slowly slid the vial across the table towards her. Sitting back again, he lifted his tea cup, drained it in one gulp, and then stood up. Her green eyes followed him across the kitchen as he shuffled along in his dark pajama, stopping at the counter to refill his cup. He could not be serious, could he? Hadn't they done enough to the poor man already? A sinking feeling tugged at her stomach, one of both dread and a curiosity she couldn't snuff out. "Kakashi . . . what are you planning?"

"Hiro cannot hold his position in the company if he is clinically insane, can he?"

Her eyes widened in shock. "You're going to drive him insane?! With that stuff and just some genjutsu?! Are you insane?! Not only will Jun kill us both, but it's just-"

"Just what, Sakura? Wrong? Like what he is doing to his own wife isn't wrong?"

"Yes! He hasn't done anything-"

"Yes, he hasn't done anything but be selfish, and greedy, both of which is destroying the woman he vowed to love and protect until death. We've already been over how much of a scumbag Hiro is. Isn't this just what he deserves?"

"But this isn't what Jun wanted! She wanted her husband back! Not to see us turn him into a lunatic!"

"He isn't going back to her, Sakura . . ."

"But there has to be something else we can do! Trap them somewhere together until they work out their problems! Maybe we can just push them together, anything, just not this!"

"He isn't going back, not unless he wants to." Kakashi said calmly as he stood by the counter, watching as she had gradually risen from her chair until she was practically on her feet yelling at him. She went strangely silent as he didn't argue back against her, staring at him as if her gaze alone could spark some reaction from him. Nothing came as he just stared back with that sad, droopy eye of his. She wished she could just one rip that mask off of his face so she could see how he felt. Sakura slumped back down in the chair, defeated. "We came here to do our job, didn't we?" he asked as he walked back towards the table.

"We did . . . I just didn't imagine it would turn out like this."

"This is Jun-san's company. She hired us to keep it her company."

"But she said . . ." Sakura tried to argue, trailing off as she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming in frustration at him. He didn't know one damned thing about what Jun wanted, or why they were there at all! He just kept pretending he know what he was doing because he didn't want to take the hard road and actually attempt to fix these two troubled people! Just like he didn't know a single damned thing about her after all these years or else he would have realized already how much she-!

The argument in the kunoichi's head never finished as continuing it would have been admitting a fact to herself that she didn't dare want to think about. She didn't know what to do or think anymore, not about Jun, or Kakashi, or even herself. The gnawing of worry at her stomach wouldn't go away, no matter how much she wanted to believe that he knew what he was doing. For all these years, she had trusted the silver-haired man to know exactly what to do just and he trusted the same in her, but now . . . part of her didn't know if she could be so willing to blindly follow his orders once more.

Slowly, her green eyes slid sideways as she stared off into space. Her fingers clasped around the warm cup, feeling colder than it did a few moments ago. "Sakura . . ."

"Are you sure there is no other way?"

"He needs to be removed from the game once and for all. He is not just Takara's pawn like we originally thought."

Her eyes drifted upwards a moment towards him, and then fell again. ". . . And if this goes bad?"

". . . You're second guessing me?"

"Can you imagine why?" she grumbled with a glare at him. His one dark eye widened a moment, and in that split second she was almost sure he looked hurt. Still, it was only in a second. She couldn't be sure of anything Kakashi felt since he hid himself so well when he chose to. His voice didn't betray how he really felt either as he asked, "You don't trust me anymore?"

That was a very good question, one she wanted to know the answer to herself. Sakura's eyes lowered towards the table, "No, I do trust you. It's just . . ."

"You don't believe we're doing this for the right reasons."

"Exactly," Sakura said with a nod. Her skin crept slightly as how he had finished her thoughts. He knew her too well for her own liking, more so than she really knew him.

"Sakura . . . Just trust me this once, even if you don't like it. I've never let you down before and I'm not about to start now."

"I know that . . . This just seems . . . dangerous, in the 'going-to-get-caught' sense, more so than normal."

"With what I have in mind, there's no way we can fail."

She was worried he would say something just like that as the skeptical look stayed on her face. He frowned at her in return. "Don't look at me like that. Your face may stick that way."

Sakura's eyes rolled.

"Listen. If this doesn't work, then you get all rights and privileges to 'I-told-you-so'," Kakashi answered with his usual cheery eye creak, "And when was the last time I heard that phrase from you?"

Which was entirely the insufferable ninja's point, since never once had she said 'I-told-you-so' to him . . . until recently when she was right about Takara. That didn't mean that little idiom of theirs couldn't be broken twice in one mission, could it? Kakashi being wrong twice was practically unheard of . . . maybe?

She was sure he meant it as a reassuring gesture, but it wasn't working. The knot in her stomach still wouldn't go away, and yet, what else could she do but go along? She was his partner and friend. She really did trust him . . . didn't she? "What exactly did you have in mind?"

* * *

Sakura dove forward to catch Kiko just as she tripped all over her high heels, the coffee sloshing in the pot until it nearly spilled over the edge. Carefully, she pulled the woman back up to her feet as she squawked in surprise when she nearly slipped again, backwards this time. She groaned, giving the pink-haired young woman a grateful and simultaneously sad look. Sakura smiled back, and pulled the envelope from the assistant's mouth. "Thank you," she said, giving a half-hearted grin.

"Um, you're welcome . . . do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine. I'll just-Woop!" Kiko shrieked as she lurched forward again when she tried to take a step. Sakura leaped back as she almost was hit, stopping just as the other woman steadied herself. "Maybe I should help you."

Looking up gratefully, she smiled. "Thank you."

"Let me just grab this," Sakura said as she took the coffee pot from Kiko's hand.

"I'm just so behind today, and Minagawa-san isn't even in yet. I don't have anything ready, and he's so exact about what he wants in the morning. Coffee, no sugar, extra cream, and all these reports," the woman rambled as Sakura followed her towards the Vice President's office, glaring around to see if anyone was watching them. Hiro's secretary only looked up once from her computer, first at Kiko then at Sakura before looking about down again as if nothing was unusual. "Oh, well, it is the job I signed up for, and it's a good job, even if there is so much. Um, Haruno-san?"

Sakura flinched. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry to be using your help like this. You must be awfully busy yourself. Was there something you needed?"

"I just need to see your boss when he comes in. Approval forms from Jun-san for her staff."

"She relented? That's . . . unlike Jun-san. She rarely relents to anything Minagawa-san wants lately. Maybe she's just-."

"I think it's just a formality, don't you? Most of her employees met the high standards she set, so there really wasn't anyone that needed cutting."

"I see . . . Minagawa-san was hoping she'd fire a lot of them to help grow the company's profit margin, like it isn't pretty big already since he's been taking over some of Jun-san's failed projects, but he always has been about profits."

"I see . . ." Sakura trailed off, finding one reason to dislike Hiro more so than she did already. Her sympathy for the man was starting to turn more towards a malicious happiness at being able to personally make his life a living hell, well, a little at least. As much as she hated him and equally felt sorry for him, she felt more worried for Jun and more over for herself if this plan of Kakashi's didn't work.

It took much resistance on the kunoichi's part to keep from biting her lip in nervousness as they walked into the office. Kiko moved about the large desk, dropping folders on top of papers here and there along the dark surface before turning towards Sakura and what she held. Standing there blankly as the other woman worked, she didn't realize the coffee pot had been taken until Kiko had already taken it from her hands and was busy filling a mug on the desk with the brew. Crap, she was supposed to do something with that, wasn't she? The comm in her ear sprung to life, "Sakura, the vial. Put the vial in the mug."

"I got it," she whispered under her breath, praying to herself that Kiko didn't hear her.

"No, you don't got it, because you're standing there like an idiot and not drugging that coffee."

"Shut up."

"How are you going to-?"

"I said shut up," she growled a little more forcefully into the comm. Instantly, she regretted it as Kiko looked up in her direction from the papers she arranged on the desk. "Did you say something to me?"

"No! I mean . . . no, I . . ."

"But I thought I heard you a moment ago?"

"I mean yes, um, I said . . . um, shouldn't there be cream in that cup?"

The auburn-haired young woman took one look into the mug at the black coffee and paled.

"Oh my goodness! You're right! I thought I put it in there! Minagawa-san is going to be so angry with me! He'll be here any moment!" Kiko yelled as she rushed from the room, bumping the desk with her hip and knocking over a stack of papers.

Sakura ducked out of the way as she hopped past, clutching her bruised hip and limping on her heels as she walked from the room. "I'll be right back to get those! Just put your papers on his desk. I'll make sure he gets them!" Kiko yelled before she vanished out the door and down the hall.

In the wake of the frazzled young assistant, all the kunoichi could do was stare out the door until the comm hissed and brought her back to her senses. "The vial, Sakura."

"I said I got it," she grumbled at the sound of her silver-haired partner, who was no doubt watching her that very moment from the ventilation above. Quickly, she placed the papers down on the desk. Slipping the glass vial from her skirt pocket, she unscrewed the dropper fast and held it over the mug before stopping. Wait, there was something she was forgetting, wasn't there? There had to be or else she wouldn't have felt like something was wrong despite of the sense of déjà vu she had drugging yet another one of Hiro's drinks. What could she possibly be forgetting? Sakura's jade eyes glanced between the clean white mug and the clear vial. She had forgotten something. "Kakashi?"

"What is it?"

". . . How many drops?"

From the cramped ventilation shaft above her, Kakashi frowned down at her even if she couldn't possibly see him. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"You never told me how many?"

"I did so. Three drops, and no more or else he'll be out like a light."

"Which is exactly my point! You say three last time!"

"And that worked, didn't it?"

"We're not trying to knock him out for the whole day here! And that was in cold alcohol, not hot caffeine! What if the coffee interferes?!"

"Stop getting upset. It should be fine . . ."

There was a slight hesitation in his voice, and she knew that he didn't quite know the right amount either. Sakura frowned. "Three drops is either too much or not enough, and you know it. You're just being difficult!"

"You're the one being difficult. Kiko's going to be back soon. Hurry up."

"Not until you tell me how many drops!"

"There isn't time-"

"I am a medic! I am not doping up someone against their will until you tell me the proper dosage for incapacitation!"

"Stop being technical and put-"

"How much?"

"Sakura-"

"How much?!"

"Two drops!"

Two small beads of clear liquid dropped from the eyedropper into the black coffee as Sakura exhaled in relief. She barely finished screwing the top back on when she heard heels frantically clicking down the hallway before coming to an abrupt stop. "Minagawa-san! Good morning!"

"Yamada-san, what are you doing out here?"

"I was-"

"Never mind, I need those trade reports from yesterday afternoon in addition to the ones I had you fetch this morning. I also want you to confirm my lunch appointment, get the accounting department's daily report, and I need you deliver a message to Jun about those reports from her supposed two experts then wait there until she coughs them up, and no letting her stall you this time!" Hiro scolded her while walking right past, seeming to ignore her presence entirely until he stopped by the door and glared at the small cream decanter in her hand. "Is that for my coffee?"

"Um, yes sir, I was just-"

Sakura quickly tucked her arms behind her back while turning towards the door, silently thanking whatever deity above chose that moment to let the vice president be distracted. "I don't want to hear about your problems, Yamada-san. I only ask that you work for me efficiently, and without letting every little problem hang you up. It's just coffee with cream for goodness sake. It's not like I'm asking you to run this company for me."

"No, sir . . ."

"What was that?"

"Um, I mean, Yes! Um, Yes, sir . . . it's not like I am running this company for you."

Hiro cast a cold look in Kiko's direction before turning to enter his office and seeing Sakura standing at the front of his desk. His dark eyes widened in surprise then narrowed in suspicion as he moved into the room. "Haruno-san, this is a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"

Smiling graciously, and if only to hint her own amusement at what was ahead, the pink-haired young woman motions towards the pile of papers on his desk. "The reports you were worried about are here. Jun-san wanted me to deliver them to you personally."

"I see, well, thank you, one less thing for Yamada-san to do this morning," Hiro said as he sat down, watching as Kiko moved to pour cream into his coffee mug, "I'm sure I'll come up with something else for her to do soon enough."

The relieved look that had been on the assistant's face was instantly wiped away. "Yes, sir . . . Is there anything else?"

Hiro waved dismissively at them both as he glanced down at the papers on his desk. Sakura slowly slipped the vial into her skirt pocket as Kiko passed her out of the room, and then followed the assistant back into the hallway. The auburn haired woman looked much calmer now that she wasn't in front of her boss, giving the other woman a grateful smile. "Thank you so much for your help, Haruno-san. You really were in the right place at the right time."

"Don't mention it . . . is every morning like this?"

"Oh no, of course not."

"Really?" Sakura asked, her pink eyebrows furrowing in skepticism.

"Yes, sometimes it's worse."

Her eyebrows rose up in shock. Kiko didn't laugh, which could only mean that she was dead serious. "You really should consider a new job."

"Maybe, but this is a good job, it's something. I mean, I'm not good with numbers, or with much else, but . . . I do make a mean cup of coffee, and a nice cookie when I have time to myself. I mean, I love sweets! Don't you? It just makes me feel better."

Sakura nodded. Well, what self respecting woman didn't like something sweet, as Anko would reason while pigging out on dango. She couldn't exactly fault that kind of logic given her own propensity for anything with sugar added. "Oh, I should make you some of my cookies, you'd love them!"

"I'm sure . . . it's just I might not be working here much longer . . ."

"Oh . . . I forgot . . ."

Wincing to herself, she watched as Kiko fidgeted on the spot before quickly turning and walking off then suddenly stopping again. "I really should get back to work. I'll, um, see you around, Haruno-san, I guess."

Sakura waved back feebly, but the young woman had already turned away, practically running down the hall. Suddenly, she felt bad for Kiko, not just for working for Hiro, but being stuck doing nothing else. She was obviously a painfully shy woman with a load of bad luck all around her. In fact, she reminded her a little bit of how Hinata used to be before she grew a backbone and married Naruto. Obviously, Kiko was still looking for that backbone though. Sighing to her, Sakura started to walk down the hall at a slow pace, lost in her own head until the comm link sprung to life with a squawk. "Sakura, come in."

She sighed again, this time in aggravation as she scowled. "Yes, I'm here. Did he take it yet?"

"Yes, it shouldn't be long now. Get in position."

Well, the drug was administered. The point to turn back was gone a long while ago. Damn Kakashi for making her feel like this. This was no way to run an operation and he knew it. Yet, what else could she do but play her part in what was about to come? Frowning, Sakura picked up her pace down the hallway. "I'm on my way."

* * *

Elsewhere in the Minagawa building, another pair of shinobi also used the ventilation system to stay out of sight. Despite being uncomfortably crammed in the small shaft, Ino had to admit that there was obvious brilliance to the plan Genma had concocted to get them this far. It had been so stupidly simple to fool the people at the front desk into believing they were visitors here on business. Just two stolen ID's and some simple henge jutsu got them all the access they needed without any questions asked.

After ditching their disguises, it was then a trip through these vents towards a small break room and janitor's closet outside of the main security office for the whole building. She had to admit that reconning the building by finding the plans in the city management department of Snowfall had paid off once again. If they hadn't, they wouldn't have known about the rows of cameras everywhere but right outside the office and break room or the vent shaft in a seldom used meeting room that lead right into the janitor's closet. They also wouldn't have known what the office held, the controls to all of the buildings elevators, their ultimate goal. Unfortunately, Genma still hadn't explained how he planned to get them in there. He also didn't explain how he had gotten a hold of a female janitorial uniform either, but that was one thing she didn't want to know about as well. As cute as his butt was ahead of her, crawling around in those black pants, she still felt like she was being left in the dark when it came to planning.

And she really didn't want to be thinking of his butt either.

Over the past few days, as lovely as it was to actually be doing something for once, Ino couldn't help the simultaneous feelings of mild resentment and utter bewilderment around Genma. Usually she hated it more when Shikamaru kept her out of the loop than when the brown-haired shinobi did the exact same thing to her. Well, she still hated it, but she didn't complain as much around him. She really wanted to be pissed at Genma, but every time she found a reason to be angry, she couldn't, which only made her more confused.

It didn't help that sleeping next to him wasn't the same either. After that fateful night, her sleep wasn't the same. Instead of paying no attention to him whatsoever whenever her back was turned towards his, now he was all she could think about until her eyes eventually fell heavily with sleep. She felt on edge, nervous, on top of being confused, and angry. Ok, maybe she had lied to herself a little in believing that the night they'd slept together didn't arise any feeling out of her. Obviously she had felt something to be confused over, yet she wasn't too sure she wanted to find out exactly what it was.

Certainly, Shikamaru never made her think about him this much, nor in ways that weren't purely in longing. All this thinking was starting to hurt Ino's head as well, even if she didn't want to admit it. Instead she scowled as her mood soured. "You know, we probably could have used that henge to get by those cameras," she mused out loud while crouched behind the brown-haired man.

He grunted in response as he pried open a vent panel on his left hand side, and didn't say much else. Rolling her eyes, Ino didn't ask again as he banged and pushed on the metal. They were shinobi after all, there had to be better ways of doing this. About to bring up that point again, the vent gave way with a metallic squeal and a satisfied grunt of approval from Genma. "Told you I'd get it."

She rolled her blue eyes again as he crawled out of the vent and wiggled down. Half expecting him to belly-flop onto the ground, she was pleasantly surprised when he didn't make a sound. Guess Genma wasn't half bad after all. Ino crawled up the shaft to see him grinning back at her in the middle of the dark room, making her frown at how pleased he looked with himself. Moving sideways, she crawl further up the shaft and kicked out her feet through the opening. With a wiggle and a bend of her body, she slipped down from the vent with an easy plop and a slight crouch. She smirked back at him as his face fell as he shifted against her uncomfortably. It was then that Ino realized that they were practically on top of each other in the cramped space. Glancing at each other, she then began to shift around and away from him as he did the same until there was over a foot between them. Relieved, they both looked up at each other. "Now what?"

"You asked a question earlier, right?"

Her scowl and mood worsened. Genma smirked back and pulled out an ugly tan jumpsuit from the business satchel he had carried along into the building. "You need to get changed."

Ino's face went red suddenly as her eyes widened. "What?!" she hissed at him, trying to keep her voice down, "Here?! Are you insane?!"

"What? It's not like I haven't seen it all before."

She wasn't about to contest that, but . . .

". . . And it's ugly!"

"Stop questioning my sanity and fashion sense, and listen a moment. You're going to be a janitor for all of ten minutes, enough time for you to go out there, make four cups of coffee, and deliver them into the security office before waiting for me. After that, you can stand around in your underwear for all I care," Genma muttered before it occurred to him that if Ino did stand around in just her bra and panties, certain parts of his anatomy would care, a lot.

With a small piece of satisfaction, she watched as the male shinobi shifted uncomfortably on his feet despite the distance between them. Still, he hadn't exactly stated the point in all this. "Coffee? Just coffee?" Ino asked with one pale eyebrow quirked.

"And this," he said as he pulled out a small bottle from his satchel. She grabbed the white plastic container from his fingers to turn it over in her hands. "Sleeping pills?" she questioned, "You want to drug them?"

"It's worked for Kakashi, hasn't it?"

"Yes, but these just store-bought pills. It'll take the whole bottle to knock them out quickly."

"And the problem with that is?"

Ino grumbled to herself, ready to bean him on the head the bottle as it was. Well, it wasn't as brilliant as the other parts of their plan, but it would work wouldn't it. No need to fuss with genjutsu, and if what she read on the bottle was true, they'd be out for hours, more than enough time for them to accomplish what they needed to so. "Fine," she whispered under her breath as she ripped the jumpsuit from his hands, "I just hope for your sake it works. Genjutsu isn't exactly my specialty."

"It isn't mine either."

Working quickly, Ino shucked off her fur-collared coat and flat black shoes, before realizing something. "Turn around."

Genma's eyebrows rose up. "What?"

"You heard me, turn around."

"It's not like I haven't-"

"I heard you the first time you said it, but I'm not giving you any more free shows either. So, if you don't mind . . ."

He glared at her a moment then turned around anyway, staring into a wall as his back was to her. Well, it wasn't like he would have commented either if he did get another peek at Ino practically naked. He would have been too busy imagine her fully naked and trying not to have any adverse reaction. She should have realized by now that his imagination was much worse than his eyes, especially when it came to her. Genma exhaled slowly at the sound of a zipper, no doubt coming from the pair of fitted black pants she wore while crawling through the vents. Even if he wasn't watching her, he could just imagine the dark material sliding down her long pale legs, over shapely hip, toned thighs, muscular caves, legs built to wrap over a man's waist, and-

He battled down a groan, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he waited. Even after being rejected, he still wanted her in the worst way. Genma shook his head a moment then hung it down. He really was a fool. Ino had made her choice and he wasn't him. The sooner he accepted that, the sooner he'd get over her, maybe. "Ready," she said a moment later.

As Genma turned around to see her standing there in a tan jumpsuit he'd stolen out of a store room, he realized he wouldn't be getting over the blonde anytime soon, not with the way her cleavage filled out even the ugliest of uniforms. Ino must have noticed him staring at her breast and a moment later she pulled the long zipper down the front up a little higher, ruining his view. Jolted back into reality and out of his sexual fantasies, he blinked, and then began digging into the bottom one his satchel to pull out a matching billed cap. The emblem of the Minagawa Eastern Trading Company was emblazoned on the front. She groaned a little at the sight of it. "That too?"

"Yes."

"One moment," she grumbled as she grabbed her long length of hair and began to coil in up on top on her head. Finished, she reached out a hand to take the hat when Genma stepped forward to put it on her instead, pulling the bill down sharply over her eyes.

Her head snapped up to yell at him, but not a sound came out of her mouth as she noticed him staring at her. There was something in his brown eyes. She couldn't quite place a finger on what it was exactly, only that his look sent a shiver down her spine yet she couldn't bring herself to look away. It was almost the same look he gave her before trying to kiss her. His mouth hung open as if he was about to tell her something, but obviously, since he didn't say anything, he couldn't find his tongue either. Oddly enough, if it had been any other man looking at her like that, she probably would have said something or even hit him, but Genma? Kissing him again didn't exactly sound like that bad of an idea in her head, even if she didn't really like him. She really didn't like him, did she, right? His fingers had brushed her cheek in the sudden movement of her head, lingering there until the tip of his index finally reached out and caressed her skin.

Ino jumped as if jolted and took one big step back, nearly crashing into a mop and bucket. Genma took a step back as well, standing rigidly against some metal shelving. After a long moment, he finally started to say, "That was an . . . an-"

"An accident?" she offered as she readjusted her hat while avoiding looking at him again.

"Yeah, an accident . . . Sorry, it won't happen-"

"Whatever," Ino interrupted as she quickly turned towards the door to her left out of the closet, "I'll knock when it's safe to come out."

Genma nodded, not knowing what else do at the moment. Quietly, she opened the door a crack and then slipped out of the closet. As soon as she was gone, the tension holding him upright went out of his body with a relieved exhale. That was close. He really needed to stop looking at her lips like that, because the moment he looked too much would be the moment he told her how he really felt. Frowning to himself, Genma's brown eyes lingered on the door in the dark closet. All he had to do was get through that day, their mission would be over, and they could go home. He wouldn't be able to see her again for a while let alone fix a hat or be stuck in a vent shaft with her, which was probably for the best. If he ever wanted to get over Ino, not being in close proximity to her was for the best.

* * *

It had been about five minutes since Hiro had drained the coffee mug dry. Kakashi frowned to himself as he laid flat in the cold metal vent, staring out through aluminum slits into the vice president's office. It wouldn't be long now as he noticed the men's pen start to slow down. Good, so he was right after all. He tried not to frown deeper at remembering Sakura's near mutiny. It was not like the kunoichi to question him, let alone constantly question him about things she should have known the answer to more so than him. He wasn't the medic nin even if the drug they were using was his illicit recipe. He only knew that three drops in alcohol was enough to knock him out for sure. He just wasn't too sure about caffeine . . . Whether he was right or not was beside the point. The point was that Sakura had never doubted him before, and she most certainly was now. She had lied when she said only a few days ago that she trusted him, because she obviously didn't.

This concerned Kakashi greatly.

Their entire partnership relied on trust. He trusted her with his life all the time, and yet . . . if she didn't trust him in return to even pull off this increasingly stupid mission, how could they even be friends let alone partners? And this was all beside the little fact that he loved her. If she didn't even trust him, then she obviously didn't love him at all. The look on Kakashi's face turned from an aggravated scowl to a sad, defeated droop in his exposed eye. This was why he hated this emotion. All it did was make a person crazy and ruin perfectly good relationships. If he had just believed that their one night together was just for mission like she believed, he wouldn't have been sitting there doing nothing while feeling like the one good relationship in his life was unraveling.

And he probably wouldn't have been sitting there still as Hiro's head hit the desk with a heavy thud. "Shit," Kakashi cursed as he let go of the wires holding the vent in place, letting it fall to the floor quickly.

"Kakashi? Are you alright?" the comm in his ear squawked with Sakura's voice.

"Yes."

"Then why did you curse?"

"Because he's out and I missed it," Kakashi grumbled in return as he leapt down from the vent into the office, landing in a crouch.

"He's out?" she asked, an annoyed tick in her voice, "I thought that was what we were trying not to do?"

Scowling at her implication, he ignored her question for the moment to walk around the desk and pull Hiro upright again. The vice president slouched back heavily in the chair staring vacant up at the ceiling now with a blank expression on his face. Snapping his fingers over the man's face didn't bring any reaction whatsoever, at least not an intelligent one. Hiro mumbled something at the sound, which, as he leaned in closer to hear, sounded vaguely like . . . numbers?

Kakashi smirked to himself as he glanced down at the accounting sheet on the desk. "Out as in checked out of his head out, and not out like a light out," the shinobi corrected her as he moved back around the desk, "Are you ready?"

For a second, he could almost hear the kunoichi thinking to herself with a long pause before answering, "Yes."

"He's going to move quick, don't lose him and have that genjutsu ready."

"I know what I'm doing. This is not my first time."

That line sounds so much funnier to him the first time she had used it. Smirking to himself from underneath the dark mask, Kakashi lifted the black eye patch off of his left eye to reveal the Sharingan. Three black tomoe within the deep red orb swirled with increasing speed. "So, Minagawa-san, how would you like your frontal lobe today, lightly fried or extra crispy?"

* * *

Numbers were all Hiro Minagawa really knew. He could recite prime numbers exactly up to 2,000 or so, and frequently did just that in his head whenever he could feel his anger get the better of him. After reading the latest report from the accounting report, and dealing with Yamada-san once again, reciting numbers was necessary. The calming effect of the action worked well with the coffee to the point where concentrating on just that seemed more important than what was supposed to be reading.

In fact, he had managed to get up to 2011 when he realized that he hadn't read a single word on the page in front of him. Groaning, he finally stopped counting and rubbed his eyes. It was only the first hour or so at work and already he couldn't concentrate on actual work. Sighing to himself, Hiro sat back and looked up from the desk. Immediately, he rolled his chair backwards with a surprised jolt. "Takara? What are you-? How did you get in here?" he asked, his dark eyes going wide in astonishment.

The golden-haired, honey-eyed woman smiled at him. "I wanted to see you."

"Who let you in?"

"Your secretary, she knows who I am, remember."

Hiro frowned at her, even if she looked beautiful in that black, slinky dress. He had been dreading this moment. Ever since he had kicked her out of his apartment, he knew she would return inevitably to try and patch up their relationship, something he wasn't too sure he even wanted anymore. Takara took a step forward, and Hiro stood up, moving away from her and towards the door. "Go home, Takara."

"But, I wanted to-"

"You come into my office while I'm trying to work, first thing in the morning and not even during a break. You promised me you wouldn't do that. This is not the time to talk at all."

"Hiro-" she cut herself off with a shocked gag on her own words as she paled dramatically. All Takara's look did was make him frown more. "Go home. I'll call you when I'm ready to-"

The soft gag she made became a choke, followed by a sickening crunch that sounded like it came from the inside of her throat. Hiro stared in shock as Takara's neck literally constricted onto itself as she gapped like a fish while grabbing her throat in pain. No sound came out of her mouth now, not after another crack resounded from her neck. "What the-"

He reached out towards the blonde before a metallic snick sounded in the office. Blood burst forth from Takara's neck, over the desk, and Hiro as he gave a startled shout, stumbling backwards over his chair and into the wall. He could only watch in horror as her head rolled backward and fell to the floor, severed at the neck. He shouted again as the body hung there, suspended in air as if by magic. What was going on?! She's dead! Why didn't her body fall yet?! Who?! What?! Suddenly, Hiro noticed a glint of thin silver in the air, of wire, and his heart nearly stopped in his chest. He had heard about them before, shinobi. He just never imagined . . . Above him, he saw a shadow flicker across the vent in the ceiling. It couldn't be . . . "No! No! Leave me alone!"

Leaping away from the wall, Hiro ran for the door, nearly ripping off the hinges as he saw a shadow move in his peripheral vision. Whoever it was had killed Takara, and no doubt, they had to be there to kill him, if he gave them the chance.

Sakura stared in shock at the scream coming from behind the door of the vice president's office before it opened with a loud bang. Nearly everyone in the hallway corridor stopped and stared as the man stumbled out of the doorway only to collapse hard on the slick stone floor. For the moment, even she, highly professional kunoichi as she was, couldn't help it. It was just so . . . wrong to see a normally composed man screaming and crawling to get back to his feet. More distracting was the reaction of the crowd as people moved away from him the closer he came. The more he shouted, the more the normal buzz of a busy office hallway died out into such a stunned silence as she had ever heard, punctuated with gasps of utter shock. Somehow, she hadn't anticipated Kakashi's intended plan playing out this dramatically.

Too busy watching, Sakura nearly missed a slip of her fingers while going through the hand signs of a basic genjutsu until catching herself. Not yet, he had to be closer for the illusion to work. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kiko try to break through the crowd, having little success just as Hiro staggered back to his feet. He bolted down the hall as his assistant made her way through enough to follow him. Sakura tried not to pale as her involvement wasn't part of their plan.

Kiko caught up to him just as they passed the pink-haired young woman. Hiro spun around on her, a look of utter terror on his face as he didn't even seem to be looking at her but over her shoulder towards his office as he shouted in fear. Grasping onto his arm, the young assistant shook his arms violently until his dark eyes glanced at her. "Sir! Sir! Listen to me!" she shouted in his face until he finally focused on her.

Panting heavily and hoarse, he finally stopped screaming and gapped at her, as if he only just now recognized her. "Wha?"

Sakura's fingers moved in the final hand sign, completing the illusion. Hiro screamed in horror before pushing Kiko away with a hard shove that sent her sprawling onto the floor. "Get away from me! Get away from me, demon! Leave me alone!" he shouted as he took a few uneasy steps back, "You killed her! The blood! Get away from me!"

He turned to run again with a panicked turn before tripping over his own feet. Severely off-balanced and teetering out of control, Hiro dropped to the ground with an almost comical crack.

The crowd gathered in the hallway stood in stunned silence, unmoving as the vice president of their own company tried to get up and then collapsed. Even Kiko sat on the floor, staring as him with her mouth hung open. No one moved to help him or to get help from someone else, and after how he had pushed his own assistant, who would? Slowly, a murmur of whispers shattered the silence but never grew any louder until someone in the crowd burst out in laughter. Dozens of pairs of shocked eyes turned towards the one tall, suited man standing in the crowd laughing his head off like there was no tomorrow. If Sakura could have concentrated on anything else at that moment but the genjutsu, she probably would have raised both eyebrows at the man's reaction. Then again, everyone had their own way of coping with severely messed up human spectacles.

Gradually, the murmuring of the crowd grew louder, and slowly, so did the laughter as one by one other people did the same. Soon enough, everyone in the hallway was laughing at the vice president, well, everyone except Sakura and Kiko. Hiro groaned and tried to get back to his feet, ignoring the crowd at least until he glanced upwards. As soon as he realized the source of the laughter around him, the look on his face quickly went from terror to fury. "What are you all laughing at?! What are you looking at?! Aren't any of you going to help me?!" he yelled as he got back up to his feel with a wobble before pointing at the fallen Kiko with an accusing finger, "He killed her! He did it!"

The poor assistant blinked in disbelief, gawking at her employer as the laughter grew louder into near howls. "Why aren't any of you helping me?! Don't you see him?!" Hiro yelled in fury as he stomped around, looking wildly at the crowd surrounding him, "Who do you think you're laughing at?! Why are you all laughing?!"

Slolwly, Kiko pulled her feet under her and rose up from the ground. "Sir, I think we need to get you some help, if you could just calm down . . ." she said gently as she tried to slowly reach for him.

Hiro practically leaped backwards away from her while screaming, "Don't come near me! Can't you see what you've done!? The blood?! Aren't you going to kill me next?!"

A look of sympathetic sorrow crossed the assistant's face as she didn't try to reach for him again. "Sir, there isn't any blood."

"But I'm covered in it! Can't you see the seriousness of what you did?! Why is everyone laughing?!" he turned around, shouting at the crowd, "Why are you all laughing?! You think this is funny?! I'll fire you all if keep on laughing!"

Obviously, the assembled masses must have taken the threat of termination as nothing but hot air as not one of them stopped howling in laughter. Spinning around and growing more agitated by the moment, Hiro continued to shout if only to himself. What was wrong with everyone?! Takara was dead and the killer stood right there!? Why didn't the man attack him?! Why didn't anyone do anything?! They were all laughing at him! All of them! Everywhere he looked were the faces of people delirious with mirth, except for the killer who stood masked and silent like a shadow. All of them loved this, didn't they? A chance to ridicule the boss before he was killed, wasn't it? What was wrong with these people?! Why were they all laughing?!

Turning around again Hiro stopped as he saw one face in the crowd that looked deadly serious. It was Sakura Haruno. The pink hair was unmistakable. Why wasn't she laughing? "Why aren't you laughing?" he asked, almost growling the question as he walked threateningly towards the woman.

She looked up at him, mouth gapping for an answer as he grabbed her wrist and shook hard, breaking the connection of her hands. "Why aren't you laughing at me?! Don't you think is funny too?!"

Kiko rushed forward, grabbing Hiro by the shoulder. "Sir! She didn't do anything! Let go of her!"

He blinked at the assistant with an oddly confused look on his face. Where did she come from? Last he knew, appearing out of thin air was not a trick the young woman knew. Regardless of his confusion, he brushed Kiko off and pushed her aside. "She did something because she isn't laughing at me too!" he shouted before glancing down at his shirt.

The blood was gone, all of it had disappeared. His grip on Sakura's forearms tightened as he realized her connection to the incidents of the past few minutes. "What did you do to me?!"

Sakura's mouth gapped up and down as she struggled for an answer. This was the moment she feared would come. If she defended herself from Hiro, they were caught. If she remained silent, he was definitely going to hurt her until she answered. If she did answer and said the wrong thing, their cover was blown. No matter what she course of action she thought of taking, it seemed as if they would be caught anyway. Still, she didn't resist much as she let him push her through the crowd and up against the wall, pushing back against him a little yet not with the full force of her chakra. "What did you do to me?!" he yelled again.

"I don't know-"

"Tell me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes, you do! What did you do?!" Hiro shouted as his fingers dug through the long sleeves of her black shirt and into her skin, "Answer me!"

"Haruno-san!" Kiko shouted, trying to pull her boss away only to be shoved aside once again. Sakura stood there, nearly paralyzed at the choice before her as her mouth continued to gap, unable to make that decision. It would have been so easy to just hit him and be done with it. He deserved to he smote for what he did to Jun anyway, even if it blew their cover to pieces. As much as it pained her, she had to lie, but lie with what? Denial only worked for so long. "I didn't do anything!" Sakura screamed as she tried to push him away again without using her enhanced strength, "Let me go!"

Hiro roared as his hands shot past her blocking forearms for her throat. "Don't lie to me!"

"Sir! Don't!" Kiko shouted.

A shadow barreled past her, a blur of black that collided with her boss with an audible smack of flesh. The angry vice president flew off his feet and slid on his duff across the floor as the crowd reacted with gasps and moved out of the way of the scene. Over him stood Kakashi, masked and dressed entirely in black with fists clenched tightly. The exposed Sharingan only made him seem all the more pissed as he glared down at the other man. "She asked you to let her go . . ." he growled coldly.

Sakura paled as Hiro looked up at him in shock. The wheels were visibly turning in his head, and it wouldn't be long now before Jun's husband came to the right conclusion on his own. Apparently, whatever she would have lied and said to preserve their mission was irrelevant as her former teacher had just broken it already. The man's eyes narrowed on the pair. "I can explain . . ." the pink-haired kunoichi tried to say before she realized that no, she couldn't explain a damned thing.

"Who are you people?" Hiro asked in skeptical wonderment while slowing crawling backwards. Over the murmuring of the crowd, the two shinobi glanced at each other without answering. The curiosity on the vice president's face quickly turned into anger as neither of them said a word. He quickly got back up to his feet, still backing up from them. "If you won't tell me, I know someone who will."

Hiro took off at a brisk walk as the pair realized exactly who he meant. "Oh gods . . ." Sakura whispered.

If he talked to Jun, they were screwed.

"Don't just stand there! He's getting away!" Kakashi shouted as he began to run after the vice president. Sakura kicked off her heels and turned to run as well, but not before catching one last apologetic look at Kiko who stood there dumbfounded. "Sorry!" she shouted before following the silver-haired man down the hall.

The crowd parted and turned in their wake, a loud discussion left behind them as they tried to catch up to Hiro. Upon being chased, he had taken off into a full run, and had a huge lead in comparison. An untrained person's speed was almost laughable compared to a ninja, yet neither of the pair were laughing as they watched the man skid to a halt in front of a bank of elevators. Jabbing the up button frantically, his lead on them dwindled drastically until the pair of steel doors before him parted. He ran inside and jabbed the door close button as fast as he could. The doors closed just before either of them could reach him.

The two shinobi slammed into the metal, pounding on it before turning towards each other. Sakura panted, trying to catch her breath, "Now what?"

"The stairs," Kakashi answered as he pointed towards a staircase and ran over. Not wasting any time, he jump up onto the railing and then up each level with a bounce off of each metal rung. Sakura followed, mentally cursing him for this. She knew it! She just knew this would happen! And trying to catch Hiro before he made it to Jun was even more useless! Couldn't he just admit they'd failed?! Then again, neither of them were the type of people to ever throw in the towel that easily, even on lost causes. To her, this cause wasn't just lost, it was marooned on a deserted island without hope of ever being rescued.

Reaching the top floor where Jun's office was, Kakashi stepped down and then Sakura stood beside him a second later. They both burst through the door to see Hiro standing before his wife's secretary, rather irate. "I am not waiting to see her! I don't care if she'd busy in a meeting!" he shouted before glancing behind him to see the two shinobi advancing on him.

Hiro ran around the desk while ignoring the secretary and careened through the office door before either of them could catch him. They followed him and stopped at the sight of Jun standing sternly behind her desk, glaring at them as her husband gawked at the clones of Kakashi and Sakura gawking back at them. A pair of business men sitting off to the side, who obviously had been in meeting with the president of Minagawa Eastern Trading, just gawked at everyone. "What's going on here?" she asked as her brown eyes glanced between all the offending people in the room, even the ones that weren't real.

"Who are these people, Jun?!" he yelled in astonishment, "Because they obviously aren't personnel experts!"

The two shinobi looked sheepishly about as their clones disappeared with a pop and poof of smoke. The frown on Jun's face only deepened and her glare on them only got sharper. "That is a valid question," she said coolly while walking around to the other side of the desk before smiling at the two shocked men off to the side, "Gentlemen, if you will excuse me a moment, I have more pressing business to discuss."

Standing up quickly, the two business men bowed to her quickly, which she returned, before practically scurrying from the room like two mice escaping a trap that was about to snap shut. The door closed behind him with a slight bang that made Sakura, as nervous as she was, jump a little. Glancing over at Kakashi, she watched as he moved the eyepatch down to cover the Sharingan. His dark, droopy eye was focus on Jun, and for a moment, she was almost sure she could see a hint of sadness in his stare. She looked down as well in guilt.

In the pause, Hiro visibly calmed down but still stared at his wife in confusion. "What's going on here, Jun?"

"Hatake-san, I believe the phrase 'the jig is up' is applicable. If you would please, inform my husband who you both are?" she asked of him, sounding much too calm and all too similar to Tsunade-sama in too many ways for the comfort of either ninja.

Nevertheless, Kakashi cleared the frog sticking his throat with a cough before murmuring, "I am Hatake Kakashi and this is Haruno Sakura . . . of Konohagakure."

Hiro's eyes widened as he turned towards Jun. "You hired ninjas?! Against me?! Why!? Are you trying to have me killed?!"

"Don't be silly. I just wanted to kill your candidacy for the leadership of this company."

As totally inappropriate as it seemed, Sakura couldn't help a small snort of laughter. An abrupt stare from their client made her avert her green eyes back down to the floor. On the other hand, Hiro's angry stare didn't affect her as much until he turned back to face his wife. "So that's what this is all about? The company? What about our marriage?"

Jun's angry glare finally left the shinobi and focused again on her husband. "Can you even imagine why?"

"I certainly can now!" he yelled back at her, "Which part made you this afraid? That I might seriously leave you for Takara, or that I might actually be a better leader for this company than you?"

"I have been managing this company for years before I even met you! And I am just supposed to hand it to you on a silver platter because you have a penis and I don't?! Why don't you admit that was what our marriage was really about, your chance to replace me!" she shouted back at him, "If you loved me, you never would have-"

"If you loved me, you would have actually been there!"

"I was there, Hiro! Where were you when I miscarried our children?!"

"You miscarried because you overworked! Your job was more important than our children!"

"I did my job because this was our company! My father-!"

"Your father died thinking this company would be safe, but you can't run it without him and you know it!"

"I can so run it!"

Hiro scoffed at her, "You couldn't even run our marriage!"

"That's because you ran from it! You ran from me all the time I needed you most! When I miscarried those babies-!"

"I was right there beside you, but you didn't want to look at me! Both times I tried to comfort you and you turned your back on me! I almost thought you never wanted a child, that you pushed yourself on purpose!"

"How can you think that of me?! I turned my back because I was ashamed because I couldn't give you the children you wanted! And this is what you thought of me?!" Jun screamed at him, moisture building at the corner of her eyes.

The steam had run out of Hiro's argument as he looked away from his wife. Fighting back the shed of tear, she took a deep breath to calm herself, which didn't work so well as the sting of sorrow remained on the edge of her voice, "After all these years, that's what you honestly think? After everything I did for you? I tried to give you everything you ever wanted, a child, a happy life. I gave you myself, my tears, and my heart, and that wasn't enough for you? I wonder if you ever loved me as much as I swore I loved you!"

"Jun, don't-"

"Don't what? Don't misunderstand you? Is that what you were going to say next? Well, I understand you now, perfectly," Jun bit back at him with all the venom she could muster, "Thank you for explaining it so clearly."

"You stupid, foolish woman, all these years later and you still don't understand the one thing I only ever wanted from you!"

"And what would that be? My soul?" she asked bitterly while scowling at him.

"You!" Hiro shouted in her face, "All I ever wanted was you!"

"But you had me! And you left me for someone else!"

"No, I didn't! Your marriage has only ever been to this company! It is the shackle that keeps you from doing anything else!"

"Can't you understand that this is what I wanted?! This company is my life! Without you, this is all I have left, and now you want to take that from me too!"

"This company is the noose around your neck! It's all you think about and know how to do. Your father thrust it upon without letting you be yourself and I could see that. It was in your eyes whenever you walked through my department, hollow. I thought if you were married, you could be free of it. I thought you would happy to just be yourself for once and not have to live up to your father's expectations. I should have realized sooner how caged you really were that you couldn't even see the bars . . ."

"I am not as caged as you think. I am happy. I'm . . ." she stopped as she realized how empty those words sounded, even to herself. Her head shook in denial. "No, I am not happy because I don't have you."

"It isn't too late, Jun. I still . . . If you let me take over . . ." Hiro said as he edged forward, reaching out for her hand.

He had barely touched her fingers when she pulled her hand away and took a step back from him. "How can I trust you to mean it? You're the one that broke our vows first. I know you will divorce me as soon as this company is in your greedy clutches, and you'll be happy alright but it won't be with me, will it?" Jun accused him as Hiro closed his eyes painfully.

". . . Takara. That's what this is about then?"

"Who else? You cannot tell me that little whore isn't the one that's pushed you into this. If I could turn you into the Vice President of this company, then surely another woman could turn you into the President. You are putty in her hands, soft and willing to do anything for her."

His brown eyes narrowed on her. "Is that what you think of me?"

"You give me little choice to think much else."

He stood then a long, silent moment then closed his eyes and shook his head. "I took solace in Takara's arms to get over you, but I realized too that she wasn't you, Jun."

She blinked, stunned. He continued when she did not say anything, "She wasn't you at all. Even you cared what I did, or else we wouldn't be fighting like this," he continued, opening his eyes to look at her sadly, "I kept her around because I knew you would never forgive me for what I did . . ."

Jun's mouth dropped, gawking at him before snapping her jaw shut and glaring at him once more. "And the divorce papers? You've been planning to divorce me all along, so what you say to me now doesn't mean a thing."

"I had them drawn up on Takara's insistence that it was too late to save our relationship before I came to my sense."

"You're lying," she accused him, "Why are you admitting all this now? I was waiting for you for all these months and you never came home once. You expect me to believe you now, after all this?"

"Is this what you really think? Even as I'm telling you I love you? I've only ever loved you!"

"Yes! I can't trust you anymore! You can say it as many times as you like, but it won't make it true will it? If you're so desperate to be rid of me then just do it!"

". . . Then you leave me no choice at all," Hiro said as he reached into his jacket lining pocket and removed a thick, folded stack of papers, "At one time, I was putty in your hands too, willing to do anything just for you. Part of me still is . . . but not anymore. I was going to destroy these today, but since you want them so badly, they're yours."

Jun stood still in shocked silence as he held them out to her. When she didn't reach for them, he reluctantly walked around her and placed the papers on her desk. He looked down at the plain platinum band on his finger and then reached to pull it off. It took a hard tug to pull the precious metal ring off, leaving an indent in his finger where it used to rest. He dropped it onto her desk besides the divorce papers. "I will have the rest of my things moved out soon, after the vote, and then I will see you in court to divide our assets."

She said nothing, standing as still as a statue as he continued, "The games are over, my wife. If you cannot see your own problem and give up control of this company, then I must force you out, for your own good."

"If that's the way it is then, so be it," Jun said coldly as he stared to walk towards the office door, "The board will decide which one of us deserves this company more."

"Whatever keeps you going, Jun," Hiro grumbled with a hint of regret as he stopped in the doorway, "Whatever makes you happy."

The door closed with final thud, leaving the two shinobi alone with Jun. For a long moment, the older woman just stood there and said nothing. Hesitantly, Sakura looked up to see her fists clenched at her side as her whole body shook delicately from holding back a tidal wave of emotions. Wincing as she looked down, any moment she expected an anguished cry to come from the poor woman's mouth, but it never came. All they heard was the sound her feet made as she turned around. ". . . Jun?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"You are both dismissed. Go home."

"But-" Kakashi started to ask before he was interrupted.

"I said go home, Hatake-san. I ordered you both to do something and you both disobeyed me and deceived me! I cannot think of you any better than I think of him, so go!" she shouted, her back shaking in fury until she slowly calmed down again, ". . . You both have done enough, for which I am grateful, but now I want you to leave."

"Jun . . ." Sakura trailed off, fighting down hard on the guilt choking her voice.

"Konoha will still be paid for the services rendered, but I am terminating your contract with me early. You can stay until the end of the board vote in a few days, but you no longer are working for me, and I no longer want you in this building. Turn in your ID's at the front desk. Disobey me again and I will make sure your Hokage knows everything you have done."

"Jun, please! We can fix this! Let us-!" the kunoichi shouted, cut off as Kakashi pulled back on her shoulder.

"That is enough, Sakura," he said, looking at her with his one droopy eye, "There is nothing left here for us to fix."

She glared at him in righteous anger, wanting so much at that moment to punch that sad look off his face when he knew very well how much of this was entirely his fault. And yet, as much as her hand curled tightly into a fist, she couldn't bring herself to take a swing at him. Stomping loudly, she turned away and charged out the office door, banging it closed on her way out. Left behind, Kakashi stood there a moment and then bowed deeply to Jun. "Goodbye, Jun-san. I wish you luck . . . and I am sorry," he said as she didn't move, keeping her back to him as she looked out the office window.

She didn't say anything either, just stared at the expansive city skyline before her. After a long minute of silence, the ninja stood back up, and quietly walked out, closing the door gently behind him so that it didn't make a single noise.

All alone, Jun let the tears fall from her eyes finally. In the entirety of the breakdown of her marriage, she had always had the strength never to cry, only to be angry. Once, she had thought he would return, that Takara was a fling, that all of this was some mid-life crisis for him to just get over. But, when he invoked the rule of the board, she should have known that he was serious. What she never realized before was not only how serious this was, but also personal for the both of them. The games were indeed over, and she had lost him forever.

Did he truly believe he was saving her from herself? Was she even worth saving anymore? Each question only brought more agony as she cried. Was she so completely wrong about him and herself? How could she be so wrong? What did it matter now, he was gone and her hopes and love went with him. The divorce papers were signed and dated on her desk. Their marriage was practically over and just a signature away from complete finality.

Perhaps she was right after all. This trading company was all she had left to live for. And when that was gone too, what would she do then?

It didn't matter. Revenge didn't even matter anymore. The tears spilled down her cheeks, leaving red streaks over the fine wrinkles marring her face. At forty, Minagawa Jun has just witnessed her own life collapse all over again before her eyes and slowly began to circle the drain. In a matter of days, everything would be taken from her without even her pride to hold her up, unless by some miracle intervention came. She knew it wouldn't though. She had just sent her only hope away, even if she couldn't possibly think of what they could possibly do for her now short of murder. Even then, after they had so blatant betrayed her and got caught, how could she trust them?

No, at that moment, Minagawa Jun decided to put the last store of her faith in herself, as she seemed to be the only person she could depend on. Perhaps Hiro was right. Perhaps the only thing that made her truly happy was herself.

* * *

To Be Continued in Part 16 of Dirty Deeds, Going Down.


	16. Going Down

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 16 – Going Down

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: See Part 1.

* * *

"This has got to be the most boring job in existence," one of the guards grumbled as he leaned his check on his hand, which was propped up on the large console before him.

He stared at the wall of screens before him, but didn't really look at them even if they were the only light in the otherwise dark room. They blinked and changed so quickly that he didn't even bother really paying attention to what happened in them. If anything serious did happen anyway, the emergency phone near by would be ringing off the hook anyway. The three other guards sitting around him didn't say much as they stared idly at the screens again, which he took as agreement. One of his companions leaned back heavily in his chair, causing it to squeak. "Think maybe we should ask management for a pay raise?"

"For what? Sitting on our duffs all day, practically?"

"I'd settle for cable TV in here."

"I'd settle for a coffee maker so we don't have to go down the hall for it."

"You guys only think of yourselves. I got kids to feed, remember."

"Ah, yes, the family man. Tell me, family man, ever think of telling your wife to work too?"

"No . . . I'd rather be bored here than the hitting that'll happen as soon as I tell her to get a job."

"A woman's place is in the home."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's plenty of women out there working, even in menial jobs like this one."

"Don't say that. They just might decide to replace us with women."

As soon as he said that, there was a knock on the security room door. One of the guards stood up as the other laughs at the joke. Opening the door, he looked down at the blonde that smiled at him, petite compared to his tall stature and dressed in a janitor uniform and cap. He blinked at the woman a moment until he noticed that she had a cardboard carton with four paper cups of coffee in it. Suddenly happy to see her, he moved out of the way to let her in. The three other guards looked equally surprised and elated to see the pretty young woman bearing hot, caffeine-filled refreshments. "Well, this is unusual. Are you new?"

"Yes, I'm training on the third floor," Ino said with a smile as she walked over to the console and put down the carton, "My supervisor said to make some coffee and bring it down to you guys."

There was a murmur of first questioning, and then acceptance as one after another they grabbed the coffee cups. Ino smiled to herself as they started to sip. For all the effort she put into brewing the drinks, crushing those pills, mixing them with the sugar she found, and dumping a two spoonfuls in each, they better be drinking them. "So, who's your supervisor, Midori?" one of the guards asked as he peered at the name patch over her right breast.

"Um . . . trying to remember-"

"I thought I knew a Midori working here already, a big lady with green eyes that cleans the cafeteria."

"Well, obviously this isn't the same woman, isn't it?" his friend corrected him, "Geez, you're dumber than a brick!"

"Am not . . . just slow."

The other men chuckled, forgetting that the woman watching them never answered the questions as she probably blended into the background. As the men talked again, ignoring her, she could tell how the drug was starting to affect them as some of them started to yawn. It wouldn't be long now. Ino turned to slip out of the room when the door opened before her on its own. A fifth guard stepped into the room and the kunoichi's stomached dropped. Five?! She only made four things of coffee! The others were about the drop at any moment! Silently she cursed Genma and pressed herself against the nearest wall. She needed a plan, think. What jutsu could get her out of this one?

The new man glanced at her as he shrugged off his jacket and sat in the fifth chair in the room. "What's going on? And who's the girl?"

"Oh, that's Midori, new janitor."

"She got us coffee."

"Aw, come on, you guys couldn't even save any for me?"

"We can't help that you're late."

"You guys looked tired. Slow morning?"

"Very . . . I do feel tired."

"Me too."

"Me three."

One of them yawned as the un-drugged guard peered at his friends. Ino tired not to cringe as he murmured, "Coffee is supposed to make you feel less tired, not more . . ."

"It'll kick in, in a moment. If I look at these screens anymore . . ."

He didn't say anything else, but continued to peer at the other guards. The blonde's stomach sunk further in dread. It wouldn't be long now. A guard groaned and closed his eyes as another leaned forward to put his coffee down on the console and missed, spilling it all over the floor instead. One by one, the four men fell back or forward in their chairs, out like lights. The one guard still awake sprung to his feet and looked around at the others before turning towards the young woman. "What happened to them?!" he yelled, before bending over one of them, "Don't just stand there! Get some help!"

Indeed, Ino didn't just stand there as she moved forward. She was no Sakura when it came to taijutsu, but even she knew a thing or two of where to hit someone. Grabbing the man by his shirt collar, he quickly spun around and right into the kunoichi's fist as she punched him in the solar plexus. His breath gone, he crumpled on top of his friend and sent the rolling chair sprawling back into the wall. In an utter coincidental stroke of luck, the guards head slammed into the plaster, leaving a sizable dent as he groaned in pain before going limp. Ino exhaled in relief.

Well, that was easier than she thought.

Working quickly, she grabbed the man and lifted him out of the chair to put him back into his own. Taking one quick glance around the scene, she ran out of the room and back down the hall into break room. Finding it empty, she knocked on the janitorial closet door. Moments later, the door opened and Genma's brown eyes peered out at her from the dark. She looked at him with a frown, wanting to hurt him severely, for miscounting. "We're in."

He grinned as he stepped out into the room and followed her back into the hallway. "Well, that's good isn't it? What are you frowning at me for?"

"Because there's a problem," Ino grumbled as she led him towards the security office.

Suddenly, the spring in Genma's step was gone. "What kind of problem?"

Wordlessly, Ino opened the office door and directed him inside. Stepping inside, the shinobi frowned as much as his companion as he instantly saw five men draped over five chairs, and not just four. She closed the door and locked it before walking into the center of the room and turned towards him, her arms folded over her chest. "This kind of problem."

* * *

Sakura stomped through the hallway and past Jun's startled secretary towards the elevators. Angry, she ripped the comm link off her ear and jabbed the elevator button quickly and with enough force to actually put a fine line crack in the plastic. She stopped after a moment and looked over her shoulder to see Kakashi coming towards her at his usual relaxed gait, slouched and with his hand crammed into his pants pockets. The nerve of him, to be so calm after what just happened! They were just fired and he just decided to walk out of her office like nothing was the matter. He even took the time give the secretary a happy eye crease and pick up their coats as if it was any other day and that they weren't just fired. Didn't he feel anything at all?!

When he finally looked up at her from across the office foyer with his dark eye as droopily blank as ever, her anger towards him and the whole situation changed from a hot boil to a raging inferno.

The kunoichi turned away quickly and walked determinedly past the elevators altogether. Picking up his pace, Kakashi caught up to her easily. How she walked like that in heels, almost stabbing the sharp point of her shoes into the tile floor, must have been have been killing her feet as her mood stayed foul, and increasing tempestuousness with each pissed off sideways glance she cast in his direction.

He frowned under his mask. He would have to been blind to not notice how upset she was, but still. She was taking this pretty personally, all things considering. It then occurred to the natural-born ninjutsu genius that he probably wasn't taking the failure personally enough at the moment, all things considered. Of course he was upset to have failed Jun . . . he just wasn't so dramatic about such things until he was alone, very, very alone. Still, he rarely saw the temperamental pink-haired woman this fired up, and all that rage seemed to be directed at him. For a split second, he considered turning around, but knew he had to face her eventually. Since when had he become such a chicken when it came to Sakura anyway?

He knew the answer to that one easily, and felt an even greater tinge of trepidation come over him. Ever since he realized how much he loved her, avoiding a real, poignant conversation about anything that could arouse emotions was preferred. Following her closely, a knot of dread grew in Kakashi's stomach, knowing that any moment, his feisty little kunoichi would just-

"Would you just stop?!" Sakura screamed at him, coming to a halt in the middle of the hallway as she spun to face him.

The ninja blinked. "Stop what?"

That only seemed to make it worse as she screeched, stomping a heel hard enough on the tile to give it a new minor crack. She pointed an accusing finger at him. "Stop that right there! Stop acting like nothing is the matter because everything matters, and now-!"

"Sakura, you really should calm down."

"Calm down?! You're telling me to calm down?! We just lost our mission, we betrayed Jun, and it is all your fault!" she yelled in his face as her pointed finger waved erratically in his face, "I told something like this would happened, and you didn't believe me! Just like you didn't believe me when I warned you about Takara! This is the second time 'I've told you so' in under a month and I'm saying it again, I told you so! No, forget that, I-told-you-so doesn't even begin to cover this!"

His dark eye focused on her, and for half a moment, she could have sworn she saw a hint of emotion on his face before it was gone. For a brief second, he almost looked pissed. A smug satisfaction spread across her face that she wasn't the only one mad about something. If he felt anything, even being angry at her, then it was better than if he felt nothing at all. He stood there a moment, silent, and seemingly brooding, before he looked up to see people stopped in the hallway as well, staring at them. Grabbing Sakura by the elbow harshly, he pulled her with him down the hall as he whispered sharply, "I told you to calm down so you wouldn't make a scene."

"Who cares? We're finished here, aren't we?" she grumbled in reply, pulling her arm from his grasp, "And what do you care? You certainly don't seem to care about what'll happen Jun now even after claiming you did. You're the one that thought she was still in love with her husband originally, but you certainly changed your opinion quick. You're the one that said this was for her own good. And now look what's happened! You still don't seem to care either way!"

"I do care," Kakashi whispered back harshly, trying to keep his voice down and temper in check while she kept pushing his buttons to infuriate him. Admittedly, it was working. "I just-" he tried to explain before cutting himself off when the reason seemed too inadequate to say.

"Just what?" Sakura asked, a question he just knew she would pose to him given the direction of their argument.

"I was just trying to do what I thought was right."

"Yes, well, your right was obviously wrong." She shot back as she ripped her coat from his hands. "This is the second time you haven't listened to me when I told you something wasn't right. Why? Why can't you just listen to me for once?"

"I do listen to you."

"No, you don't!" she hissed at him as they approached a second set of elevators on that floor, secluded from the other offices. "You only listen to me when it's convenient for you to listen, when you know I'm right, when it's about the methodology and it isn't an issue of my instincts verses yours. What is the point of talking to you anymore when no matter what we're always going to do what you want, even if it's bound to fail?"

"Sakura, we rarely fail . . ."

"Ha! Well, we just did! And on a mission that was supposed to be easy! We didn't even have to duck any kunai on this one, but we still failed!"

". . ."

His angry rose as he stared at the steel doors in front of them. There was no point in trying to argue with her, even if he was slowly reaching the point where he really wanted to try. Every other word from her, every biting remark of hers hit deeper than he cared to think about. He really had failed Jun, hadn't he? The weight of that guilt sunk in a little deeper with each passing moment. Ignoring Sakura a moment, he reached out and pressed the elevator button harder than usual. In his peripheral vision, he saw her green eyes widen a moment then soften as he glanced at her. She frowned, but not in sadness as she thought. No, it was more along the line of pity, and it was directed at him, which only made him bristle in anger.

Never in those twelve years that they had been on a team together had Kakashi been an object to be pitied, but suddenly now he was one and he didn't like it. "Stop looking at me like that," he grumbled at her, the words more mean than he intended them to be.

Sakura froze immediately, the pitting look turning to a flash of fear before she went back to anger and stared at the elevators doors as well. "You really do love bottling up your emotions, don't you?" she questioned after a long silent moment.

"And you express yours too freely. We're even."

She snorted in indignation at Kakashi's comment and looked away, down a bland, empty hallway corridor instead of at anything remotely interesting. At least, she had emotions, right? It took him how many years to finally express some form of human emotion around her? And yet, now, he was claming up again, like he didn't trust her anymore either. What was happening to him, to them? Where had the trust gone? Maybe she shouldn't let go of her trust in him so easily after all. If she had just trusted him a little . . .

Wait, he was the one that fucked it all up, not her! Why should she be blaming herself?! He's the one that decked Hiro when she could have handled him, right?

Sakura's anger relit at that thought. That's right. He is one to talk about expressing emotions. Frowning anew, she held her head a little higher as she asked, "If you're so against my emotional tendencies, then why did you punch Hiro?"

". . ."

"You can't wiggle your way out of this one. It's uncharacteristically stupid of you to just hit someone in public while undercover. I could have handled him before you popped out of thin air, so why did you deck him?"

"I don't see how that has anything to do with-"

"It does so, and you're too embarrassed to admit that you got emotional."

"I do not get emotional, unlike you."

"Yes, you keep saying that, and yet you still hit the man when-!" Sakura stopped as she realized exactly why Kakashi had hit the man, "You hit him to protect me . . ."

". . ."

Her eyes widened as he didn't immediately deny the claim. "You did! You did it because you thought I was in trouble!" she shouted in shock with a touch of anger, "Did you go temporarily mad!? I can take care of myself! How many times do I have to say that?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied, glanced away from her as he slipped on his long coat, "You obviously don't need my protection anymore. You're a woman who can obviously take care of herself, like you keep saying over, and over, and over . . . and over."

"Bullshit! When you think I am in danger, you still play the protective male despite the fact that I can send people through walls!"

"Well, your left jab is rather, well, blunt."

"Stop changing the subject! This is the second time you've felt the need to play hero this mission!"

"That would be saving your life, not playing hero . . . well, once at least."

"But you're still treating me like I can't handle myself!"

"Some habits are hard to break, but what happened in that instant is not one of them."

"Then why did you have to come to my rescue, huh?! I could have handled him!"

"Sure, you were handling it just fine until I got there," he sniped back, glaring at her, "Instead of blaming me, why don't you take some of the blame for once?"

"Me!?" Sakura screeched at him, both disturbed that he'd accuse her, something he never did before, and angered by it all the same. "You're the one that came up with this stupid plan, and the idea to disobey Jun's orders in the first place! Why can't you just fess up to that?!"

"And you're the one that couldn't put together a better denial in the face of a man that obviously knew something was going on, but didn't know what or how."

"It was kind of hard with him screaming in my face!"

"Then obviously the charade was up the moment he knew you were behind that genjutsu," he muttered, sounding more and more tense as Sakura continued to argue loudly. "We were screwed no matter what would have happened next . . ."

"Yes, well, you hitting him in the face didn't make us look any more innocent!"

"What is point then?!" Kakashi yelled. He actually yelled in anger. It was one of those rare moments when he ever raised his voice to her, and it made Sakura's mouth drop open. It was the second time he had done that in less than a month. They stared at each other a long moment, both confused and shocked, and then quickly looked away to stare back at the doors. The steel slid open with a whirl of motors. He walked past her inside of the elevator, and for a brief second, she considered not following him.

If she did, the conversation would continue. If they continued like this, both of them were bound to say things they didn't mean. If she could have just left, maybe they could put this whole disaster behind them and move on. The last thing she wanted was to lose their rapport, but it was already gone, wasn't it? She hated not trusting him. She hated being angry at him, blaming him. She just wished they could be friends again. Why couldn't he just see that? Why couldn't he understand?

Maybe he did understand, and she was the one being stubborn over it. She was right for once, and yet she wished she had been wrong. If she had been wrong about Takara, if she had been wrong about the outcome of events, then maybe the one relationship in her life she cared most about wouldn't feel like it was falling apart.

Sakura stood there, her feet not moving as the doors started to close. Kakashi reach out and stopped them. From the way his lips tugged downwards on the corners of his dark mask, she knew he was frowning. "Sakura . . ." he tried to say as the doors threatened to close once again until he pushed them back open, "I need to explain-"

"We've both said more than enough to each other."

"Sakura . . . don't do this."

"Or what?" she asked, almost threatening him with the question, "If I step inside that elevator, this topic is over. I don't want to talk about it anymore. It is over."

For a moment, he looked at her with droopy sadness in his dark eye before nodding. "Fine," he replied, a sharp edge on the word.

Ignoring it, Sakura walked into the elevator and stood next to him but not close together as she hit the floor button for the lobby and then put on her coats. Kakashi lowered his arm, letting the doors slide closed once again. "This isn't over, you know," he pointed out.

"I know, but for at least five minutes I need silence . . ."

"Why?"

"Because, sometimes, I actually like silence. Right now is one of those times."

The door suddenly slid closed as the elevator began its descent.

* * *

The sound of tape being ripped filled the small security office along with muffled words that came out as garbled noises from the guard as he was tightly secured to his chair. Genma smirked to himself as he finished wrapping the last inch of silvery-grey duct tape over the bound man's wrists before tossing the remainder of the roll into the air and catching it. "Well, problem solved," he proclaimed proudly, even if it didn't wipe the permanent from Ino's face.

Instead, the blonde swiveled away from him her chair, and back towards the console before her, looking at the multitude of colored buttons and moving close-circuit screens with a scowl on her brow. "What is it now?" the shinobi asked, beginning to scowl himself as he walked up behind her.

"You wouldn't know how to operate this thing, would you?"

"Um . . . no?"

"Then we have another problem," Ino declared as she motioned towards the panels, "I haven't the slightest idea what any of these things do. It is completely beyond me, and not the least bit intuitive . . . we need a manual."

"Oh, well . . ."Genma said as he started searching for a book, any book he could find. Ino got up as well and looked as well. A few minutes later, she stopped when she heard a bump and an 'ow' from the other side of the desk. Looking over, she saw the brown-haired shinobi on his hands and knees on the floor, rubbing the back of his head. She frowned at him, "I don't think it's down there."

"Well, I looked everywhere else," he grumbled as he stood back up, "Did you find one?"

Her blue eyes narrowed as she stalked back to the desk and took a seat. "No, I looked. There's nothing in this room that's any bit helpful."

"That is a bit of a problem . . ."

Ino fought mightily to suppress the urge to sigh dramatically in his direction, and lost as she did just that, even rolling her eyes for good measure. "You planned everything perfectly up until this point, and now you can't figure out how to work the damned thing?!" she yelled at him, "Now what are we going to do?"

Genma's browns eyes drifted slowly away from the blonde and down onto the guard sitting next to him. Ino's glance followed him towards his target, looking more curiously at the bound man than the devious stare her partner wore. Under the stare, the man went quiet, looking between the two shinobi with mounting worry before screaming under the tape across his mouth. "He doesn't seem all that cooperative," she said as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest, "But he might know what we need."

"It's the only shot we got."

"Take the tape off."

With a quick rip, the tape came off and hung there on the corner of his mouth. For a moment, he looked surprised up at his captors, silent . . . and then let out an ear-splitting scream. Cursing, Genma gagged the man with a fresh piece of tape until all the noise he could make was muffled murmurs. "Great. So much for getting his help," he grumbled as he ripped the tape off the roll and backed away, "I'm out of ideas short of beating the crap out of him."

Ino frowned. No, he was wrong. There was one thing left that they could try, but she was just loath to try it. Unfortunately, now she didn't have a choice any more. It was the Mind Transfer Jutsu or they could go home right now. Moving quickly, her hands formed the signs, ending up with the ring formed from her joined fingers focused on the bound guard. "Watch my body, ok?" she asked her perplexed partner before the jutsu's effect took.

Suddenly, the blonde started to collapse.

Genma dove to stop her crash to floor, dropping the tape as she fell completely limp into his arms. Forced to take a step back at the sudden weight, the back of his legs bumped into the console and nearly toppled him over. He finally breathed a sigh of relief as he managed to stay on his feet, but that feeling didn't last long as he looked down at the young woman draped all over him. For all intents and purposes, Ino looked, well, dead. This had to be part of the jutsu's effects right? Eyebrows quirked together, he nudged the side of her face, making her head roll away from him. "Ino?" he asked curiously and quietly, wondering if she'd respond.

A low growl emanated from across the room, muffled by duct tape. Genma looked up to see the bound and gagged guard staring daggers at him. Perplexed even more, he just stared back at the man, until he noticed a not-so subtle shift in the man's eyes from on his face down to where his hands were holding Ino's body. The growling got louder and the eye shifting more dramatic until the ninja finally realized his hand was grasping one of the unconscious blonde's breasts.

Instantly, he let go and her body dropped to the floor with a thud. The man in the chair yelled quite loudly for being gagged, almost hopping in the rolling chair as Genma sheepishly moved forward towards him. Moments later, he yanked the tape away with a crisp hiss of adhesive. The guard yelped a moment in pain, then grumbled under his breath, "First you molest me, and then you drop me?! What part of 'watch my body' did you not understand?"

The ninja's confusion suddenly cleared up as he smirked. "Well, gee, Ino, if you had actually told me what you were doing, then maybe I could have actually acted like I knew what I was doing."

For a moment, the words of another argument crossed her mind until it occurred to her that they didn't have time for that. "Just untie me already, and put my body into one of the chairs," she grumbled, body slouching back in the chair.

He untied the possessed guard quickly, then quickly picked up Ino's body and deposited her gently this time onto one of the empty chairs. When he was finished, he looked up to see the guard's eyes closed and breathing deeply, as if he were meditating. After a long moment, the shinobi finally asked, "What are you doing?"

Concentration broken, he glared at Genma then at the wall of screens before him, "I'm trying to have a chat with my host here, and you are not helping."

He frowned, leaning back over the room's console with his arms crossed. "So, what can I do to help then?"

"Be silent and still for a minute, please."

Frowning, he fidgeted on his feet as the possessed guard closed his eyes again. Of course he had no idea what she was doing. Genma wasn't one of her clan, so understanding her family's signature jutsu was beyond him, and explaining how it worked would only take up more time, which they didn't have, and confuse him even more. He was cute when he was confused though, like a big puppy tilting his head to the side slightly, as if raising one side of his head would suddenly bring understanding. Oh, damn, wasn't she supposed to be concentrating?

Grumbling to herself, Ino tried to clear her mind of all things, including thinking about her partner yet again. Slowly it came to her as she retreated into the recesses of her host's mind, back to where her victim's consciousness lay subdued. From what she had learned just on taking over his body so far, he really was an average guy, working a boring, thankless job for minor pay with the only perk of being able to hassle around anyone else working in the building he didn't like. The guy was strong physically but not mentally, nothing close to Sakura, one of the few people she knew who could push her out after successfully performing the Mind Transfer Jutsu. Yet, that didn't mean he would go along with giving her what she needed most, his knowledge of how to stop those damned elevators.

That was where her persuasion skills came in.

* * *

_You're going to give me what I want. _

It was her again, the one who put him here in the first place; the one who loomed over him, coiled like a snake about to strike. Who was she? What could she possibly want from him? Didn't she already know all about him? Didn't he already spill his guts over his life story, as miserable as it was, and his worst crimes? Wasn't that what she wanted? What more could she possibly want?

He'd heard of shinobi before, but never imagined he would ever encounter one let alone be possessed by a female one of their kind. They were only ever myths growing up in Snowfall, something the outside wall dealt with. How exactly did one deal with a ninja anyway when one no way of saying no? **I don't have any more to give you.**

_Yes, you do, and you're going to give it to me._

**What do you want?**

_I want to know how to stop those elevators._

For a moment, he became confused. Well, he knew how to operate those elevators, but why would a ninja want to stop an elevator of all things in the first place? Then, it occurred to the poor guard that nothing good to come from telling her how to operate high tech mechanisms. **I ain't telling you nothing!**

_You are going to tell me because I am not going to leave you alone until you do. You were nice enough to tell me all your dirty little secrets remember? _

**And that's supposed to scare me?**

_I'm also driving this body remember. I can and will make your worst dreams come true, like that one nightmare you had of standing in the lobby of this building and being-_

**Fine! Do what you like to me! I don't care! I would let you hurt innocent people!**

_I'm not going to hurt anyone. In fact, all I want to do is trap two people in an elevator for a few minutes to an hour. That's it._

That revelation didn't compute with what he knew of ninjas. Weren't they supposed to, you know, kill people? Why would she want to trap two people? **Why would you want to do that?**

_You see, I have these two stubborn friends . . . who are so deeply mired in denial that they might as well be drowning in it. Their love lives really stink you know._

**. . . Ninjas have love lives?**

_We're humans too, jackass . . . just with compromised morals . . ._

**Why should I bother helping you anyway? Your crappy friends mean nothing to me.**

_Wait, that isn't a very nice thing to say!_

**Well, knocking me out, tying me up, gagging me, and then possessing my body isn't exactly a nice thing either! You need my help, don't you, or else you wouldn't have bothered? If I'm going to help you, what's in it for me?**

He could almost head the female ninja growl in frustration, which made him chuckle to himself. Well, if this all was about some personal business or whatever, then why should he even be bothered? It wasn't some life and death situation after all, so why should he care. She needed him and going as far as killing him wasn't going to get him to help her at all. They both knew this now. So, the only way she'd ever get him to do anything was to . . .

_If this works, there is potential sex happening in that elevator._

Never in the fifteen years of his employment, all of which he spent primarily watching all those blasted close circuit cameras, had anyone ever dared to have sex in the elevators. Sure, he'd seen amateur porn happening everywhere in the building, but never there, not even when they broke down . . . but . . . **Bullshit, your friends are probably a bunch of fatties.**

_Well, you've seen the new pink haired woman around here right?_

Pinkie? Or at least that's what they called her around the office. But really, that gorgeous creature half the security staff drooled over since she turned up a month ago working for the head office on the top floor? The one with the great legs and fabulous pouting lips? And that hair, the perfect shade of bubblegum, the very reason they called her Pinkie and wondered endlessly if the carpet matched the drapes? Her? The ninja meant her of all people? **Yeah? What about her?**

_She's the friend I want to entrap._

**. . . I'm in.**

* * *

The ride down the elevator happened in utter silence. Neither of them said anything, not even when the lift stopped and the doors opened, either letting someone else in or off. The further they descended, the blacker Kakashi's face got, leaving him staring off into space with an occasional wondering glance over towards her partner. He had really screwed up this time, hadn't he? He had absolutely no idea what to say to her, about Jun, or . . . or about other pressing matters weighing heavily on him. He needed to say something, didn't he? The urge to say even the most inane thing pressed on him, just to break the tension-filled silence that engulfed the whole of the elevator every time they were alone again.

And yet, she didn't want to hear a thing from him, said so herself. She really couldn't expect him to stay quiet for that long, could she? Yet, from the way she stood perfect still with her tense, straight back towards him, and her arms still crossed in the metallic reflection, yeah, she probably was expecting him not to say a word. Shifting uncomfortably on his feet, Kakashi stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets and exhaled a quiet sigh. He shouldn't have yelled at her. He shouldn't have hit Hiro either, even if it felt fantastic while doing it.

She kept asking that annoying question too, why did he hit Hiro? Well, it was a valid question, but it was one he didn't have an answer for, which made it annoying. Maybe he really had tried to protect her, yet again, but what else could he have done that wouldn't have blown their cover just as much? Using the Sharingan would have been possible to knock him out and genjutsu the incident away, but the whole crowd would have seen his unusual eyeball as well. Likewise, he certainly wasn't going to just stand there while she was in trouble.

Maybe Sakura had been right after all in saying that his plan had been destined to fail.

Kakashi sunk back against the elevator wall, muttering under his breath so low that Sakura couldn't possibly have heard it. She must have heard something though as her head snapped sideways, glancing over her shoulder at him. "What was that?" she asked with her entire face pinched in annoyance, "Did you say something?"

He grumbled, "I said, you were right."

The annoyance on Sakura's face disappeared for a moment to surprise before quickly turning annoyed again as she frowned at him before looking away. "I told you I was right . . ."

". . . You don't have to rub it in. It's childish."

"Only about as childish as you and always having to be right," she snapped back before wincing to herself and shouting, "Damnit! I'm sorry! This is why I didn't want you to say anything until we were out of this elevator! You shouldn't have said anything!"

"We're going to be talking about it again eventually. This discussion is far from over."

"Yes, but I'm still pissed! I didn't want to make it worse by snapping at you like that! Damnit!"

Kakashi smirked as the kunoichi growled in anger, stamping a foot on the floor in frustration. "Just . . . don't say anything else, at least not until we're out of here . . ." Sakura said before sighing, reaching up to rub her right temple.

Why did he have to say something? Even if it was interesting to hear him admit that she was right, she immensely preferred silence over even small talk at the moment. If he kept quiet, maybe she could forget about everything and carry on with him just the same. But no, he just had to open his mouth as he stood behind her, and he just had to keep staring at her back while looking like a kicked dog. If he thought she couldn't see him in the dim reflection of the elevator doors, he had another thing coming. The stares were almost as bad as him speaking in the first place. Giving a frustrated groan, Sakura rubbed both of her temples hard to relieve the impending headache brewing over her expansive forehead.

Still, he did admit she was right. That should count for something right?

No, at that moment, whatever he said really didn't count for anything as anger still prickled along the back of her neck, simmering just under the surface. She did have a right to pissed, didn't she? This wasn't just residual attitude from everything else that had happened, yet went un-discussed, was it? Did she even want to think about something like that right now? Sakura groaned louder to herself.

"You know, I could always rub your shoulders or something if you're that tense," Kakashi said suddenly, and casually.

"What part of leave me alone do you not-!"

Her words abruptly stopped as they felt the elevator grind to a halt, the gears falling silent. Moments pasted by and the doors did not open. Sakura looked up in horror, as if some great cosmic joke had just been sprung onto her. "Oh, this is not happening!"

* * *

In a dark control room elsewhere in the Minagawa Eastern Trading Building, two people stared up at a giant wall of close-circuit camera screens, focused on one in particular. They smiled together as the trap had been successfully sprung onto their victims.

* * *

"Calm down, Sakura, this cannot be that-"

"How can this not be that bad? We're stuck in an elevator, Kakashi! I don't see how it can possibly get any worse than that!"

"We still have power?"

"Great! Just great! We botch a mission and then I get stuck in here with you!"

"Sakura . . ." he said, trying not to sound anywhere near as angry as his partner for the slight as she paced and twirled in front of him, "Panicking is not helping us."

"This isn't panicking, this is anger," she growled between her teeth as she stopped pacing to turn towards him, "I imagine panicking would have more screaming involved."

The ninja frowned to himself underneath the mask, desperately trying not to give in to his own ramped up emotions and start acting just as angry as she was. "Just calm down long enough to think of how to get us out of here," Kakashi tried to rationalize as he looked around the lift's interior.

There wasn't much around them except the steel doors, faux wood paneling, carpeting, florescent lights overhead, and the control panel lined with buttons all the way to the left. Near the top of the panel was a small, round speaker and a black button that said 'Call', the sight of which gave him an idea. Moving around Sakura, he pressed that button which responded with a slight crackle of electricity, holding it down before speaking, "Excuse me? Uhh, anyone there?"

Standing just to the side of him, the pink-haired kunoichi smirked, keeping her arms folded as there was no response yet. Like this would help them.

* * *

"Excuse me? Uhh, anyone there?"

Kakashi's voice filled the dark office, coming through a speaker inlaid into the surface of the console. The smile that had been plastered all over Genma's face was quickly wiped away. "Shit."

The guard possessed by Ino glanced away from the screen they had been watching over to her partner, and then down towards the speaker. "Hold on, I got an idea. Just stay quiet while I talk to him," she said while sliding the chair down until she could reach the button to talk through the intercom easily and held it down, "Yes, how can I help you?"

"We're trapped inside an elevator. We need some help."

"One moment please . . . what floor?"

"Uh, around the fiftieth, I believe."

"I see you now, sir. I'm sorry, but the lift isn't responding here either. Can you open the doors?"

"One moment." The sound of some metallic banging and ruffling filled the speaker for a little while until there was a loud sounding thump followed by a soft curse from a feminine voice. Glancing up at the monitor, Ino tried not to laugh at the sight of Sakura nursing a hurt hand by sucking on her fingers. Moments later, an annoyed sounding Kakashi spoke again, "No, the door is stuck."

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to call emergency services, if you'll just hold on, we'll-."

Ino cut off her own voice by letting go of the button, and then reached across the console at the same time to press another. Up on the monitor, the lights in the elevator instantly went out before a dimmer set of bulbs flashed on that darkened the interior of the lift yet still made it visible to see within. Grinning, she pressed a few more buttons and then sat back the chair. "And now for the fireworks."

"Great, just great," Sakura's voice sounded over the speaker into the room, "And you said it couldn't get any worse."

Genma blinked then started to grin as the arguing went on. "They can't hear us?"

"Nope, I shut off power to the elevator, but triggered the building's hidden mics. These guys really are sharp around here with this tech stuff."

"This is all your fault!" Sakura yelled again, and loudly as the two shinobi winced.

"Well, I guess this is progress," the brown-haired ninja said as they watched the monitor intently, "They're talking, and they haven't tried to kill each other . . ."

"Yet."

* * *

"Great, just great. And you said it couldn't get any worse."

Kakashi bit down on the inside of his mouth to keep from replying to the remark right away as he pressed the button again. There was no crackle of electricity, and nothing came from the speaker this time. The elevator buttons, which had been previously lit up, were dark. "Well?" Sakura asked, sounding impatient.

"The elevator is dead."

She frowned at him in disappointment, as if expecting him to state something else other than the obvious. "This is all your fault!" she yelled at him, tossing her hands up in air as she stomped away from him, "If you had just listened to me, we wouldn't even be here right now!"

"I distinctly remember you being the one who chose this particular elevator . . ."

"But you hit Hiro and blew our cover and our mission!"

Kakashi frowned as a sense of déjà vu set in, as if they'd had this argument once already just a few minutes ago. It seemed they were back to passing the blame again as he grumbled back at her, "Our mission was done the moment he noticed you through the genjutsu. That was your fault."

"And you're the one who came up with that crazy plan to begin with! If we had just obeyed Jun-!"

"We both agreed that Jun-san didn't know what she needed."

"No, you thought like that, and I just went along with it because you said those two words, 'trust me'! Trust me, trust me, trust me! Whenever you get one of these harebrained ideas, you pull out those two little words and I'd melt and go along, because I did trust you!" Sakura yelled before abruptly stopping. Her anger slowly melted away to sadness as her face fell. That was the truth of it, wasn't it? She _did_ trust him, past tense and all, but did she still trust him, even after this disaster? Slowly, she hung her head. ". . . I did . . . I did trust you, Kakashi . . ."

"But now you don't . . . do you?" he asked, turned slightly away from her and staring off to the side.

"I don't . . ." Sakura started to say before sagging back against the wooden paneling with a heavy, weary sigh, "I don't know anymore, I don't know much about anything anymore. I don't know what to think, except that we failed Jun when she needed us the most."

Kakashi's eye drooped in sadness as he listened to the kunoichi before she went silent completely. With her anger evaporated, she looked defeated as he felt the same way. She was right, as he had admitted not that long ago, but it didn't really count for anything. They had still failed in every sense of the word. While defeat wasn't exactly unknown to them, this time, it felt more personal. He looked away from his pink-haired partner as she started to sniffle. Silently, he prayed that she didn't start crying. He hadn't seen her really cry in years, not since the incident when he nearly died. Before even that, she had cried since Sauske left Konoha and Naruto's failure to bring him home. She took after him too much in that respect, but she could still be vulnerable when the moment allowed it. And damnit, this was one of those horrible, angst-ridden moments that tugged on every string of his heart that wasn't already atrophied. If she started crying now, he wouldn't be able to resist comforting her emotionally or even physically.

His fingers twitched involuntarily at the thought of kissing her tears away just before slamming the door on those thoughts and shoving his hands into his pockets. The pain in his chest just wouldn't go away though, no matter how much he willed it gone.

Thankfully, Sakura's sniffles ceased with the sound of a deep, calming breath. For a few moments, he didn't hazard to look sideways at her just in case there were tear tracks on her face, but the temptation was too much. He looked away, and regretted it, but not for what he had feared. Instead, what he saw in her green eyes was a look of disenchantment, the same feeling that would overcome him at times before just a few nights ago. She had stopped believing in something and he could feel it radiating off of her as the hollow expression on her face stayed. She looked broken, finally worn down by life enough to give up on something important. Even if he didn't know what it was, part of him already missed that particular part of her.

She stayed there, motionless as he watched her with growing concern. Then, suddenly, her lips curled upwards into a sardonic smirk. "All these years and I was right all along . . ." she said bitterly.

Kakashi's eyebrow rose up at the statement while still glancing sideways at her. Sakura snorted derisively. "It doesn't exist, does it."

His eyebrow rose a little bit higher as the statement. That was not meant to be a question, but be couldn't stop himself from asking anyway. "What would that be?"

"Love."

His heart sank.

"It's nothing but some stupid joke, an excuse men use to do whatever they want and get away with it. It's true, isn't it? Men only say it when they want to reproduce, when it gets them out of trouble with their wives or girlfriends. They never truly mean it because the second they get what they want and a thing like love gets in the way, then they suddenly stop meaning it. It's nothing but a trick men pull so a woman will be too dumbstruck to do anything but nod and parrot it back, then go along with whatever they want." Sakura ranted, each declaration unknowingly stabbing into her partner like a well place kunai directly to his heart.

So this was what she had lost, her belief in love. The words felt all too familiar even if his reasoning wasn't so bitterly tainted. "You don't mean that . . ." he just about whispered, swallowing down the lump in his throat, "You're just upset. That's all."

Her arms crossed over her chest defiantly, head held higher than a moment ago. "No, I am thinking more clearly than I have in years, since I chose to ask Tsunade to train me. It is nothing but some sick, cosmic joke of a belief, of an emotion. How else can you explain what happened back there? How Hiro could excuse everything he's done to Jun on love. He didn't love her. If he loved her, he never would have betrayed her, over and over."

"Love doesn't exactly make people behave like themselves, Sakura." Kakashi nearly croaked as the frog stuck to his throat just wouldn't go away.

"Yeah, obviously it makes people crazy . . ."

"Slightly, maybe," he admitted, reaching up to scratch his hair nervously, "You're overreacting though. I don't think you really-"

"Of course I mean it. After all these years, it's the only thing that makes sense. I understand it now, why it never worked out with Naruto, or Lee, or Sauske. The first two deluded themselves and me into thinking it was love, and the third was just me, just some stupid crush that I though would last forever, but it didn't. It ended because . . . it never existed in the first place. I never really love Sasuke. I never really loved any of them anymore than as friends. Love doesn't exist, Kakashi, only friendship."

"But you still cared for all of them, don't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Enough to die for them?"

Sakura paused, and he could see the thoughts whirling behind her eyes. ". . . of course, they're still my friends."

The lump in his throat became unbearable as he swallowed down on it. What the hell was he doing? As misguided as she was, she seemed pretty firm in her new beliefs. Arguing was he going to argue against her when not that long ago he would have agreed with her? The only reason he wasn't agreeing now was because a silly human emotion such as love didn't seem so silly anymore, not around her. And oh how he hated having come to that realization. Love really did make people do stupid things, like believe in it.

Another hard swallow and the lump went away, but it didn't make him feel any better in the least. The line of questioning he's struck upon made him too curious to resist dissecting Sakura's troubled thoughts. If she was willing to sacrifice her life for her friends, what would she be willing to do for him? They were close, weren't they, arguably even closer than herself and Naruto, or even Sauske? What if he really was right about her just overreacting? What if . . .

Kakashi stood up a little straighter, turning towards her as he asked, ". . . What about me?"

Sakura blinked, not expecting that question at all, least of all from Kakashi. It was . . . personal, and about personal feelings at that. He never liked to talk about feelings, which made her somewhat suspicious. What was even more suspicious was that he even had to ask in the first place. He knew already, didn't he? He had to have known. After saving his life, she had damn near died for him once already. Did he even have to ask?

Her smirk turned into a momentary smile before reverting back as she stared back at him. "You already know my answer since I nearly did already."

His lips moved under his mask, the crease lifting upwards in what she was sure would have been a smile if he hasn't been wearing the awful thing for once. Just as quickly as it appeared, the expression was gone. After a moment's thoughtfulness, he crossed his arm, matching her pose. "Isn't willing to give up your life for someone else love?"

"No, that's caring for someone . . . deeply." Sakura blurted out, feeling like a partial hypocrite a moment as he smirked under the mask while she racked her brain for a better explanation. "It's loyalty, sacrifice, true friendship, not love, Kakashi. It's-"

"It's a joke, right? A big cosmic joke?"

He repeated her own words back to her, and the anger she had felt not too long ago towards him built back up. "Yes, it is. Romantic love is a joke. Some stupid feel you get with hormones and chocolate. What I feel for Naruto, and Lee, and Sauske is not remotely a bit romantic, but I still care enough about them to save them, even if it costs me my life . . . and you . . ."

She fell quiet, her eyes shifting down away from him uncomfortably. Geez, why did he have to be so persistent? What point was he trying to prove? That she really did believe in love even if she said she didn't? Sakura frowned, glancing up at him from the corner of her eyes. "It's still love though . . ." he asked softly after a long moment, "Isn't it?"

"It isn't romantic love, not like Hiro and Jun. It isn't like-"

"Like what? Having sex with someone?"

Sakura's cheeks blazed bright red. "That isn't what I meant if you'd ever let me finish a sentence!"

"What did you mean then?"

"It isn't like-" she cut herself off as he could see those gears behind those lovely jade eyes come to a complete and utter halt.

"Well . . ." He prompted, waiting for an answer.

Her face lit up in anger. "It isn't like love! Is that what you wanted to hear?!" Sakura yelled at him. "It's not the same as wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone! As wanting to be as close to them as you can possibly get! As being there through everything! Through life and death, and all the other shit that gets in the way! It isn't like hoping that same person wants the same thing in return . . . to feel the same things for you . . ."

For a moment, tears welled up in her eyes before being rapidly blinked away. The pain and torment was clear on her face, and it made Kakashi's heart ache. His foot had unconsciously shuffled forward as she shook slightly. The urge to just grab her, and kiss her until it all went away was maddeningly tempting. The urge to confess to those exact emotions was just as irresistible. She had to understand. He needed her to understand if he was ever going to go back to some semblance of sanity around her. And yet, he still couldn't urge his other foot forward. He still didn't know how she really felt. What if he was wrong, and if after all of this, she had lost her faith in love?

The bitter smirk was back on Sakura's face as she sagged against the elevator paneling, arms crossed. "It doesn't exist, not like that at least. It's all just reproduction, hormones. Maybe people just aren't meant to be together like that after all."

Kakashi's heart sank again. Maybe she really did mean it . . .

No, she couldn't mean it. She couldn't actually believe that tripe. She was just depressed over the botched mission, wasn't she? The bitterness was just a façade to keep herself from feeling anything, which was oddly familiar the more he thought about it. She really was picking up too many of his bad habits. Giving himself a mental shake, he knew that couldn't really be what she felt. This was Sakura he was talking to after all, and she was just as stubborn. She didn't really mean it, because if she did . . . then they really were just friends.

"What about Naruto and Hinata?" he asked suddenly.

A surprised look fell across the kunoichi's face. "What about them?"

"They're in love, aren't they? Married with kids? Isn't that exactly the type of thing you were talking about?"

Her eyes narrowed onto him. "They're different."

"How?"

"They're both idiots," Sakura said with a small snort.

"But they're both in love, aren't they, which mean it does exist," he pointed out as she nearly squinted at him. What point was he trying to make exactly? Ok, so maybe love existed for some people, but for the vast majority of people, it didn't. Not everyone was lucky enough to find the one person to feel that same way back to them. Something was off. Since when did Kakashi actually give a shit about her personal thoughts and emotions if they weren't interfering with a mission? "Why are you being so persistent? Do you have money riding on my opinion of love or something?" Sakura questioned him, "You can't tell me that after all these years alone too, that you still actually believe in love?"

Kakashi looked almost jittery, startled as the questioning for turned back onto him, which was a bit unnerving to see. Normally as cool as a frozen cucumber, the copy nin actually looked . . . nervous. Yes, he was definitely nervous over something. Sakura snorted a giggle as the realization hit her that her former sensei, at the advanced age of thirty-six, still believed in love enough to defend it. She always assumed he felt things like everyone else, but given his lack of a social life, she assumed he didn't really believe in mushy stuff like love and romance, more an idealist than a romantic. A small part of her was happy to be wrong. "Who was she?" Sakura asked suddenly.

The color drained away from his cheeks under the mask, a hard thing to do since he was already pretty pale. "You don't know her." he said gruffly, turning away from her to sag back against the elevator paneling himself.

Even though his hands were stuff in his pockets as usual, she could tell that he was still caught off guard. She just had to push harder. "You can tell me. It's not like we're going anywhere. Who was she?"

"You don't understand-"

It then clicked in Sakura who it was, one of whom he always mourned for at the memorial stone. "Oh . . . I'm so sorr-"

"No, it wasn't her. She isn't dead, least not yet anyway."

"Oh . . ." It then occurred to her why he would be unwilling to say anything about this woman Kakashi of all people loved. "She doesn't know, does she?"

Unbeknownst to his partner, at that moment, the copy nin's heart skipped a few beats. She had to be toying with him if she hadn't figured it out by now. She was just as smart as he was, and it didn't take a genius to figure him out . . . did it? One moment he glared at her, but couldn't, not really, as he looked away as he just about twitched in place. His heart just wouldn't calm back down, not around her. "No, she doesn't know," he admitted, barely talking above a whisper.

The look on Sakura's face softened to somewhere between admiration and pitiful understanding. "She must be quite a woman to make you feel this strongly for her."

An ironic smirk crossed Kakashi's face underneath the mask. "Yeah, she's something else," he said before he actually smiled to himself, "She's wonderful."

* * *

"Damn you, you fucking bastard!" Genma roared at the monitors in the security office, literally hopping mad and breaking the riveting silence that had descended onto them until his outburst. Ino, who was back in her former body and had been nearly weeping listening to her friend's heart break over the lack of lover in her life, was shocked back to reality as she turned to glare at him. The guard, who she had possessed lay back in the pile of snoozing bodies in the corner of the room, knocked out as soon as he came to.

The brown-haired shinobi didn't notice the welling on tears in his partners blue eyes at all, continuing to rant in a stream of profanity instead as he started to pace. "She is standing right there and you can't tell her that you fucking love her?! What kind of fucking man are you?! Locked in a fucking elevator with the woman you love, and you go limp-dicked!? What kind of pansy ass are you!? I am going down there right now to beat the ever-loving shit-!"

"Genma!" Ino yelled across the room. He abruptly stopped about halfway towards the door at the sound of her voice. "Would you give it a rest? This isn't over yet."

He turned back towards her, eyebrows arched skeptically before shuffling back towards the upturned seat he had jumped out not that long ago. "It looks pretty much over from here."

The blonde frowned as him as he righted the chair and plopped back into it heavily. "We are not letting them out of there until something happens."

He smirked at her then dug a hand into his pants pocket to pull out a fresh toothpick. Ok, he wasn't really going to stomp down to the elevator's position and give Kakashi a good piece of his mind, even if the man deserved every piece of it. Still, it would have been a lot quicker than sitting here waiting for the two of them to make up their fucking minds already. They really should have just gotten over it already and admit their feelings. He stopped just short of putting the toothpick in his mouth as the irony of all this hit him. Moments ago he had been contemplating advocating to Kakashi to admit his feelings for the woman he loved, and he still couldn't tell Ino his own feelings. He grunted in derision to himself. This was seriously a screwed up world they lived in.

"It's a good thing then we sealed off the trap doors into the elevator shafts on all the elevators last night then," Genma said as he chomped down on the wood, "And reinforced them."

Ino smirked as well and sat back down, trying to imagine how Sakura could possibly punch through inch thick welded and galvanized steel, "I told you it was a good idea."

* * *

Kakashi grunted as the ceiling panel didn't move anywhere. No amount of chakra from him would even budge it. Weren't these supposed to be escape doors? The building was too new for them to be rusted closed already. Even if it was rust, he should have been able to punch it open. But, there he was, having no luck with it at all. Sakura looked at him darkly from across the confining elevator lift, nursing her sore knuckles. "I told you it wouldn't move," she grumbled at the stubborn ninja, "If my punches did nothing but dent the sucker, what do you hope to accomplish?"

"You could have loosened it up, perhaps."

She snorted a laugh, "Perhaps? I don't exactly give love taps you know. That metal should have been pulverized by now, but it isn't, which is highly weird . . . I don't think we'll ever get out of here."

He frowned and stopped, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. "We'll get out of here . . . eventually."

Sakura snorted, again. It had already been maybe an hour since the elevator had shut down and no one responded to her no matter that she had yelled for help until her voice gave out. The ceiling panels hadn't opened at all either, and to make matter worse, someone had tampered with the release on the main doors. They were locked in place without a pry bar for leverage, which explained why she couldn't open them earlier either. There was no escape, not until someone came to get them or the lift miraculously started working again. She sat on the floor with him, applying some minor healing chakra to her hands until she let go of the dim green energy.

After the revelation that Kakashi was in love with someone, it had become increasingly awkward between them, like it wasn't highly weird already. To make matters worse, when he admitted it, she felt, well, disappointed, except she didn't know why exactly. Why should she be disappointed that he was in love with someone else, shouldn't she have been happy that he had someone he really cared about? Well, ok, Kakashi had plenty of people to care about though, herself include, but it wasn't the same as being in love with someone. No matter what she had said about love earlier, it did exist. Naruto and Hinata, as wonderfully simple people that they were, were embodiments of its results. It just didn't work out for her.

Still, why did her partner being in love with someone make her feel like that? She cared about him, yes, but . . . not that much. He was still Kakashi, the stubborn, sarcastic, seemingly unemotional rock he had always been . . . except now he wasn't that unemotional anymore, at least not how she always thought he was. They were still just friends, and him loving someone else seemed to clinch that.

She must have been some woman to catch his eye if he's been uninterested for anyone else in years. She must have been some super woman, impossibly beautiful, smart, caring, a goddess. Goodness knows she wasn't anything like that. She was just as stubborn as he was, too ill-mannered, too rough, too emotional, and knew him too well to be of any interest to a man like Kakashi. The more Sakura thought about whom the mystery woman was, the more curious she was about her, and about how the two of them measured up.

Why did she even care who he liked? He hadn't even told her yet. It must have been someone close to him if he was this upset over it, but she had no idea who that could possibly. The only other women he talked to aside from herself were Tsunade, Anko, and Kurenai, and that wasn't all that much. The thought then occurred to Sakura that maybe he hadn't told her because she didn't like his partner. It was possible with all the rumors of how they were already too close for a pair of ninjas. Maybe this other woman was jealous of her, which was why he never said anything of his feelings to her. If that was true, it would explain all the weirdness of this mission, why he was avoiding bringing up about the other night at all, why they always seemed to be fighting now, and why he was so desperate to help Jun and succeed. What if this was their last mission together?

The very thought of it drove Sakura into an even deeper depression. Life without Kakashi there seemed less than wonderful. What would she do with herself? Going back to the Konoha hospital wasn't exactly a thrilling idea. She'd never pass for an ANBU operative either. She could teach though, but Tsunade would call that a waste with all her training and never allow it. Besides, she'd miss the field. She'd even miss moments like this when they were total failures. She's miss him, a lot in fact. Things wouldn't be the same without him around her constantly. All his jokes, his picking, the bossing around, the tit for tat silly arguments, she'd miss them all, but she would miss the rare peeks at his face, and that smile.

Why didn't he warn her before all this? Why couldn't he have told her there was someone else? Whoever this woman was, Sakura began to hate her. If the best relationship she'd ever been apart of in her life was about to be destroys for the happiness of anyone less than a goddess, she would be pissed. Glancing up a little, she saw Kakashi sitting across from her, head bent downwards and single uncovered eye droopily looking at the carpeting. His arms hung loosely looped around one bent leg. Even his typically wild silver hair looked a bit limp. He looked exactly like how she felt, depressed, and all because she asked and forced an admission while being over-dramatic.

"You never said there was someone else," Sakura muttered.

Kakashi looked up at her, confused a moment and then rolling his eye the next. "Leave it alone, it doesn't matter anymore."

"It doesn't matter? One moment you're defending love like some lovesick puppy and the next you're back to your old, disillusioned self. Make up your mind, will you? Whoever this woman is must be getting to you or else none of this trip would have happened like this."

His eye narrowed on her as he smirked to himself. The profound and unknown irony in her statement was astounding. Sakura really had no clue, absolutely none at all. For being usually pretty perceptive, on this own she was way off the mark. The only way she would ever get a clue would be if he handed her a mirror. Lifting one hand, he ran it down his face in tiredness, careful to not move his mask. "Yeah, she's been getting to me for a while now. I just didn't think it would be this bad."

Sakura blinked at him, but appear to brush off the momentary confusion as she continued. "Well, then, aren't you going to tell her how you feel?"

"It isn't that easy, you know that."

"Yes, it is. You go up to her, kiss her, and tell her. If you really, truly love her, then . . ."

"Then she'll just be swept off her feet, and fall into my arms, and we'll live happily ever after?" he questioned bluntly, "That's very hypocritical advice from the woman who minutes ago was calling that sort of thing a-"

"A joke. Ok, ok, I know what I said alright. I . . ." Sakura trailed off before sighing, "I was partially wrong, but I'm still partially right too. Love does exist, for the few people it actually works out for, because they truly believe in it. For everyone else it really is just a tool to get what they want. Hiro used it as a tool over Jun, didn't he?"

"But what if he actually meant it? What if it was all because he did love her enough to hurt her like that? To get her to see what she was doing?"

"Then why did he cheat on her with Takara? If he loved his wife, he should have remained faithful to her at least, and not slept with a younger woman. It doesn't make sense, Kakashi."

"No, it doesn't, but since when have relationships ever made sense except to the two people in one." He grumbled before reaching for one of the hand railing and standing back up, "And even then it still doesn't make any sense."

Sakura smirked to herself, "Yeah, kind of like the two of us, huh?"

"Yeah . . . kind of," he admitted while slouched against the wall. "People are complicated. Things don't always work out like they do in stories, and they don't always end horribly either. I can't just . . ."

"You can't tell her?"

"Not exactly . . ." he said as a torn expression fell across the parts of his face that she could see, "It's complicated, very complicated."

". . . Is it because of me? Because I'm your partner?" Sakura asked the same expression starting to tug at the corners of her eyes, "I know we're close, but we're just-"

"It isn't because of you," Kakashi stopped her before she could breathe out the next inevitable word, 'friends'. At this point, he hated that particular word more than he hated anything else that he could remember. What the heck was she thinking anyway? How obvious did he have to be? She stood up as well, looking at him skeptically as he rubbed his face yet again. "It isn't that. I don't want-"

"You don't want to talk about it. I get it. You don't have to lie to me since it's pretty obvious that I'm part of the problem."

She had no idea how right she was. Either she ignored the significant look he shot her, or she missed it as she was too busy postulating to notice. "Whatever it is, just tell me, or else I have nothing to go on but guessing from the way this entire mission has gone, so what is it? Does she hate me? Is she jealous? Is it something that you're too embarrassed to tell me? I don't know . . ."

Stopping, Sakura shifted uncomfortably on her high heels before asking softly, "Is it about what happened the other night?"

Kakashi barely managed to hold back a snort of laughter at her question, answering in the form of a question. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

She blushed, a light dusting of pink across her cheeks as she struggled to speak. This was foolish. With how both of them were acting on one another, she shouldn't have even brought it up let alone kept on asking, but it was too late now. Still, with Kakashi, no guts, no answers. "I don't know . . . maybe because you freaked the hell out when it was over. It would explain why if it was because you loved someone else. Well, you don't have to tell her about that. Nothing really happened. I mean, it was for the mission, and it's not like you kissed me or anything."

"Because you wouldn't let me," he pointed out bluntly.

"Exactly," Sakura said, nodding.

"Why?" he asked as she blinked in confusion. Why? Why didn't she let him kiss her? Her eyes narrowed on his as she frowned. That was an odd question to ask since he already knew the answer. "Because we're friends, Kakashi, and partners. You don't kiss your-"

He took a step forward towards her as she unconsciously took one of her own backwards. "Right, I know that, friends, like you keep saying. But we also both know that holds as much weight for an excuse as you're willing to give it. So, really, why wouldn't you let me kiss you?"

"Because you're like a brother too me," Sakura said flatly as he stared back at her. She could see his lips curl underneath the mask into a sneer. "Brothers don't lick their sister's-"

"It was just for the mission!" she yelled at him in embarrassment, pushing the memory of what he had eluded to from her mind as she calmed back down, "And it worked, didn't it?"

"It worked exceedingly well," he said lowly as her blush intensified, looking away while gnawing on her lower lip, "If we're just friends, then why do you keep that around me?"

"Doing what?" She asked defensively, crossing her arms.

"The blushing, for one, the lip biting, the looking away, you're either embarrassed, guilty, or both, or maybe you just don't want to admit that-"

The gnawing on her lip stopped as she spat, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why won't you tell me why you wouldn't let me kiss you?"

Her heart leapt into her throat as he moved even closer. Damn him! Why couldn't he just let it go and leave her alone about it?! "I meant what I said! We're just-! We're friends, Kakashi, nothing more. Why are you even asking?" she yelled, trying not to sound panicked as her back hit paneling, "Why do you keep asking?"

He stopped, standing just within arms reach of her. His dark eye wasn't so droopy anymore as she felt his glance wander from her face down her body and back up again. Every hair on her arm stood on end under his look. He was picturing her naked, wasn't he? All those layers of black clothing peeled away to expose the flesh underneath, that had to be what he was thinking because it was the exact same look he gave her the other night just before ordering her to undress. Even the way he held himself was the same, tall, straight, confident, looming over her as if he was about to devour her one way or another. It was certainly a change from a few minutes ago when he looked deeply defeated.

Why was he doing this to her all over again? Just remembering that night was enough wasn't, especially after they day they were having? Goodness knows the memory was going to etched into her subconscious for many nights to come. She didn't need him to keep reminding her, to keep questioning every aspect of what happened that night. What was wrong with him? Or rather, given how her eyes kept trying to drift downwards on his body as well, what was wrong with her? She could at least keep her eyes off his crotch, couldn't she? It wasn't like she hadn't seen it all before, not that she's mind seeing it all again, or more. The kunoichi looked away from him, finding more interest in looking at her high heels than in the intense stare on his face. The 'just for the mission' excuse really wasn't holding up very well, and the just friends defense wasn't doing much better.

"I am asking because I want to know, Sakura," he said with a shift forward of his foot into her personal space. "You've been avoiding what happened that night like the plague, and I am tired of it. I am tired of you avoiding me. I am tired of you not looking at me when we talk. And I am sick and tired of this entire 'friends' discussion."

"I don't know what-" she started to say while trying to brush past him, stopped when his hand hit the wall behind her shoulder. She moved the opposite direction and his palm slapped the paneling beside her waist. Sakura growled to herself in frustration. He wanted her to look at him? Fine! Staring upwards finally, Kakashi looked down on her as she glared back at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, so stop it," she said in denial, "What does it matter or not if I kiss you or not if you love someone else?"

The hard stare in his eye softened as he leaned down over her. Sakura gasped as the fingerless gloved hand near her waist pulled her coat aside and moved down near her hips, just brushing her tight wool skirt. She stood straight as a board, holding absolutely still as his other hand reached up to slowly peel down the black mask. Her legs nearly buckled at the smile on his face, both inviting and predatory-like as the dark cloth hung off his chin. She didn't push him away or put up an arm in defense even if his intent was clear. He was going to kiss her. Kami-sama, help her, part of her actually wanted him to go through with it too. His voice slid over her burning ears, "Because if I'm going to be bad, I'd rather do it all the way."

Her mouth dropped open in shock only to get caught up in a kiss.

* * *

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Genma cheered, arms raised in celebration as he watched his best friend finally kiss Sakura on all the monitors before them, "I knew you had it in you! I knew it! I never gave up on you! Yes!"

Behind him, Ino grinned, punching a few more keys so that the image was magnified all over. She then sat back and relaxed in the chair, a pleased and amused grin spreading across her face, "Finally."

* * *

To be continued in Part 17 of Dirty Deeds, Precious Illusions.

A/N: I am seeking a new secondary beta as my primary one is on long-term leave. I need someone who's practically an English major/editor that will do more than just correct spelling and what not. If you're up to it, hit up my e-mail address.


	17. Precious Illusions

Dirty Deeds

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 17 – Precious Illusions

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Thanks goes to moderdayportia, my new beta, as well as J-Pop Princess and Cynchick for putting up with me. See Part 1.

* * *

Stunned, Sakura stood there motionless at the brush of his lips on hers, mewling in surprise before being silenced by the swirl of his tongue. There was something inherently wrong with kissing someone who had already declared their love for someone else, but if there was, she couldn't remember it at that moment, nor did she care. The only thing she could recall clearly were the fireworks going off in her head before shooting down her back and right into her stomach, shocking all of her senses in between. All of it was brought on by Kakashi's kiss and she tried to absorb it in. The scent of his skin, the heat and taste of his mouth, the strong grip of his hands holding onto her, the soft sounds he made, all of it more than her frazzled mind could process in that instant.

And then he pulled away, ending it. She stood there dazzled and bewildered. He panted while smiling down at her. Sakura's mouth hung open, her green eyes glazed over before the enormity of what just happened could hit her. And then it did. She blinked then gasped, the sound punctuated with a slight squeak. He had kissed her! It wasn't a delusion, Kakashi had actually kissed her! And she had liked it. She really, really liked kissing him. She didn't even mind that it was him of all people doing the kissing.

The kunoichi's knees started to buckle until he pulled her back up with a strong arm holding onto her waist then pushed her up against the wall. Her brain, which had checked out moments ago, checked back in enough to bring her hands up as he leaned down to kiss her again, even if part of her yearned for another one. "Wait, wait. What about-?" she started to ask before being silenced with another searing kiss.

Moments later, he pulled away, lips tracing her cheek back to her neck as he whispered huskily, "There's no one."

"Huh?" Sakura asked, hazily trying to remember what she had been asking in the first place.

"I lied. There's no one else that I-"

She cut off his words with a kiss of her own, wrapping her arms over the copy nin's neck and holding him against her body as if for dear life. He swayed backwards a moment at the extra weight then righted them both when her back hit against the wooden paneling. The jarring knocked her mouth away momentarily she found his again, kissing him so thoroughly that she tasted her own lip gloss on his lips. It dimly occurred to her that she should care about being lied to, but it seemed irrelevant when compared with the hand currently groping her ass.

Hell, a lot of things that seemed relevant moments ago got swept aside in the wake of that first kiss. Even the whirlpool of questions floating in the back of her head, like what would happen once they stopped all the kissing, didn't seem to matter as much as she had thought. Whatever this was, or whatever happened next, she didn't want it to stop. The fact that he was Kakashi, her ex-sensei, partner, and friend, and he was doing this to her, suckling on her swollen bottom lip as his tongue delved into her mouth, didn't even register any more. In fact, that he was the one causing the flood of searing heat all over her body made it seem all the more poignant. Naruto certainly never elicited that much of a reaction with his kisses; neither did Lee. The fact that Kakashi's hands were the ones exploring up and down her sides should have been at least a little bit, well, unsettling, and yet, it wasn't anymore.

The only disconcerting feeling that even bothered to surface through the turbulence of her thoughts was how she would feel about him later. The one thing she knew at the moment was that she didn't want to stop kissing him, like, ever, which was terribly distracting. His mouth was distracting as well as he kissed the junction of her jaw line and neck, nibbling on her skin. His hands weren't much better as he held her dangerously close. She could get used to this sort of thing, and yet, something still felt . . . wrong, specifically that nagging question in the back of her mind. How would she feel about him once the kissing stopped, if it ever did?

Her thundering heart nearly skipped a beat. Sakura pulled back and away a moment. Fingers trembling, she touched the side of his face while trying to regain her fleeing breath. His skin was rough with the evidence of a few days missed shaving, but nonetheless, the texture felt delicious under her fingertips. She wanted to feel more of his skin, badly, wanted nothing more than to rip the rest of his mask away and nibble on his neck followed by yanking off his shirt and assaulting his chest, and then-

If she didn't stop then and there, those dark clothes of his were coming off, whether he wanted to or not.

The thought of sex shocked her back to her senses . . . barely. Making out with Kakashi was one thing, but sleeping with him was something completely different, like sticking her toe in to test the waters compared to just jumping in . . . even if she had technically 'tested the water' with him once already. But that time had been different. They hadn't actually done anything, except maybe when he stuck his tongue in her-

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that much different in the actual act, but their reasons this time would be dramatically altered. This time, there would be no delusions about it all being for some other silly reason, like the sake of their mission, especially since that excuse hadn't held much water the first time it was employed. It didn't even make sense to Sakura that sleeping with him this time would be for some equally silly reason like lust, or even love. That wouldn't make sense, because why would he even want her, let alone love her? Then again, since they got trapped in this elevator, nothing made sense anymore except the itch between her legs begging to be scratched by him and her body arching into his able hands. She needed to stop and think, without all the very distracting kissing and groping.

Hesitantly, she pushed him away from her neck while, ironically enough, still caressing his exposed skin. She sighed and leaned into Kakashi anyway before gathering her resolve and trying to push him back even further.

"What are we doing?" Sakura asked breathlessly, her newly found voice tainted with a nagging tone of indecision, "I don't know what-"

"Stop thinking, Sakura, and kiss me," Kakashi interrupted, pulling her tightly against his body once again. The shock of his hips against hers and the beginning of hardness in his pants made the kunoichi gasp she was cut off by his talented mouth. He nibbled on her lower lip and her knees threatened to give out again as she moaned into his kiss. He tugged on her coat, pulling if off one shoulder as she unconsciously writhed against him.

She twisted her face away as he mouthed her neck through the tall collar of her black shirt, her mind desperately trying to think of some reason to put on the brakes, even if every part of her body screamed at her not to stop. Oh dear, Kami-sama, if they didn't stop soon . . . Then again, there were advantages to not stopping, and all of them involved a naked Kakashi. The image of him, minus all the dark clothes, hot, hard, and thoroughly willing to do things to her of an utmost intimate nature, hung in her mind's eye, teasing her with the idea of what lay ahead if the brakes were not applied now.

All in all, nudity and Kakashi wouldn't have been so bad of an idea if only she knew what would happen after all the nudity and shared body heat. It was what could potentially come afterwards that filled her mind with doubt. If only she knew. If only her chest didn't ache so much from thinking about him enough already, maybe she could have thought straighter. Think, she needed to think, right? "I thought we were-"

"We're definitely not just friends," he said with a delightfully evil tone of voice, glad to finally murder that notion of hers in cold blood. She squeaked in surprise at both what he said and at the fingers sliding down her shoulders and over her back. "W-what about the bet?" Sakura stuttered even and anxiously squirmed under his touch.

Kakashi's hands stopped in their exploration of her back and he pulled away slightly to look at her with disbelief. That? She remembered that, of all things? How did she remember? Why did she even remember? Ten seconds or less away from peeling off clothes and she remembered about the damned book and their stupid bet now? "The book? You bring this up now?"

Her blush deepened to a bright red as her skin tingled without the stimulus of his hands being all over her. "You're the one that said that you could keep it in your pants for a month. I can't help that you're horny. It's your damned book after all!"

"This doesn't count," he muttered while tugging on her coat again.

"It does so count!" Sakura yelled, unknowingly helping him as her shifting allowed him to pull her shirt out of her skirt.

"Does not. You're the one that made the bet in the first place."

"Does so!" she shouted, pushing his hands off of her shirt, "You're the one that accepted! And I believed you since until last week, you were practically a damned monk, well except for the fact that you couldn't keep your eyes off of me! And now look! You can't even keep your hands off of me!"

"You're right about that," he said while leaning down for another kiss.

"Kakashi!" She tried to push him away again weakly, but he stood his ground. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought her protestations were genuine, that she was looking for a legitimate excuse to keep his hands off of her. Except, those same hands made her body move passionately against him, made her sigh and moan softly into his kisses. Yet even now, when her body was practically thrumming with unrequited arousal, she was still clinging fervently to her denial, or at least indecision. How long would it take for her to grasp how badly he wanted her, and how badly she wanted him?

Kakashi's mismatched eyes narrowed on her as she held her breath, "Screw the book then."

She gasped as he leaned in for another kiss, once more putting her hands up to stop him. "Wait, wait, just wait-"

"Stop acting like you don't want me in return, Sakura, when you obviously do," he growled while roughly pulling her hands aside and holding her wrists together. She jumped slightly as he leaned down over her, his forehead touching hers, his free hand holding her cheek. His thumb brushed the corner of her mouth and her red lower lip, wiping away the remaining pinkish residue of smeared lip gloss. He could still taste it on his lips while the scent of plum blossoms lingered in his nose. She didn't move, a frozen, terrified look all too similar to that of a frightened deer in her jade-hued eyes. As much as he wanted to kiss her until that look went away, he cared about her too much to hurt her.

His hand slipped away from her cheek to rest on her hands as he let go of the breath he had been holding. Reverently, Kakashi closed his eyes and lifted her knuckles to his lips, kissing them gently as he whispered, "I am tired of excuses and I am tired of being toyed with. If you really do want to be 'just friends', then why did you kiss me back? Why do you keep looking back at me when you know I can't take my eyes off of you? Why do you keep insisting we're friends when neither of us are acting just friendly to each other anymore? What is it that you really want? Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just . . . tell me what it is you want from me?"

A lump formed in Sakura's throat. Her heart clenched taught while the burning need smoldering in the pit of her stomach would not be assuaged. Why did he have to ask the one question that she didn't have an answer for? If she did know, she would have told him already, wouldn't she? All she did know was that part of her didn't want him to back off like this, and yet she didn't know why and that, the unknown of it all, scared her more than any enemy could.

Oh hell, she did want him. She wanted him so badly it made her knees weak and her hands tremble. Her back arched and flexed in need, unwittingly presenting her body to his waiting hands, almost begging to be touched. She had never wanted anyone else this much. Not even her hormone-fueled pining for Sasuke compared. If she didn't want him this madly, she wouldn't have been this afraid of it, afraid of him. If only she knew why the desire felt this horrible to a small portion of her mind, as if that tiny part of her conscious was screaming at her to stop while every other part of her sang for him in a beautiful, blissful chorus of acceptance. It tore her will in two, the indecision hurting in sharp contrast to the pleasure she felt. If only she knew why wanting him was so terrible, maybe then everything else would finally make sense

She shuddered, her body quivering as if she was cold, except for the fact that the cramped elevator felt stiflingly, oppressively hot. Kakashi let go of her trembling hands and started to back away until she pulled him back. Slowly and hesitantly, she tugged on his neck while rising to her toes, leaning closer towards his lips. Her hands slipped under his coat, feeling over his shoulder and chest. For a moment, he shuddered with desire as well before stopping her with a tight grip on her arm. Sakura bit down on her lower lip nervously, trying to calm herself with a quick gasp of air before asking, "If we're not friends anymore, then what are we?"

"You tell me," Kakashi replied as she nuzzled his head next to hers, fingers tugging gently in his hair. Sakura wiggled her body against his, sighing as his arms wrapped over her back. Her hands reached around his neck, pulling him down towards her lips. She actually smiled slightly at the look of near torture on his face, indecision beginning to bite at him as well, until she closed her eyes and whispered breathlessly, "Definitely not friends."

His mouth was pulled into a slow, lingering kiss before he could even begin to process her words. When the implications of her statement settled in, he groaned into her lips, hardening the kiss as her arms tightened around his neck. That was all the permission he needed and his hands immediately started yanking on her clothes in earnest.

* * *

Ino blushed, shifting in her chair as the only sound coming over the speakers in the room was very heavy breathing punctuated by very carnal grunts and moans with the occasional smack of lips. The view on the monitor didn't help much either as she tried to sink lower in the chair. Her legs crossed, pressed together to stifle the growing heat radiating from her skin in the otherwise cold security room. She glanced down at the controls before her, very tempted to respect her friend's privacy for once and shut it off before she saw too much of Sakura, yet again.

And yet, even with her fingers poised over the buttons, she couldn't resist glancing over towards Genma. He was perched in the chair next to her on the edge of his seat, brown eyes staring up at the monitor in rapture. Normally, she associated that particular delighted expression with people watching a really good movie in a theater, not with a certain male shinobi watching porn on a really big screen. A part of her was disgusted with him, but, another part of her, the same one that was getting hot and bothered couldn't look away for long either. This time she wasn't freezing her ass off out in the snow either while watching her friend get laid. If he caught her flushing cheeks, any moral high road she could have taken would have been laced with traps waiting to knock her off her high horse.

She frowned at the monitor with a heavy amount of both envy and humiliation at her own corruption. Some mission this was turning into, seeing as she could feel herself turning into a voyeuristic pervert piece by piece by none other than Shiranui Genma. Well, if she couldn't beat him . . .

"Want me to go find some popcorn?" Ino offered jokingly as she leaned back in her chair, letting herself enjoy the show, high ground be damned.

Genma didn't look away from the screen, but chuckled at the joke, waving a hand dismissively at her. "Naw, I'm good. You don't want to miss a moment of this anyway."

Her blush worsened as the noise grew a little louder. The blonde's blue eyes flickered between the action before them and her partner, playing over the memories of a night not too long ago in her head, but with a new soundtrack and a different, alternative, and much happier ending for her. No, he was wrong. She really did wish she could miss this.

* * *

Sakura's dark coat fell to the floor with a muffled thud. Kakashi's own was quickly tossed back into the far reaches of the small lift, lost in the shadows of the dim lighting. His eyepatch was long gone somewhere down there as well, gone in the darkness cast around their feet. The room was getting too hot for those anyway, the kunoichi figured as she hung off of him, attached at the mouths as he pushed her back up against the wall and the hand railing that bordered the walls around the entire lift. She moaned into the kiss when his hips ground into hers, slowly inching her knee-length skirt upwards against his rough pants. Her hands pulled at his soft, black sweater, tugging it out of his belt in a hurry to get to the bare flesh only to feel a smooth, tight undershirt he wore underneath. She groaned in complaint as he pulled away from her lips to nibble at her neckline, "You're severely overdressed for this."

"Makes two of us," he replied with a slight chuckle while his gloved hands crept down her hips and ran over the outside of her legs. Only, they stopped as she tugged the bulk of the sweater successfully up to his neck. In a movement too smooth to done by anyone else but Kakashi, he slipped the garment off of one arm and over his neck, letting it fall off the other arm and onto the floor. The fingerless gloves soon followed, tugged off with his teeth before being tossed aside carelessly.

Sakura's hands were instantly all over his chest and shoulders, outlining the flex of muscles with each breath he took as her eyes devoured the sight of the sleeveless skintight black undershirt clinging to him like a second skin. The attached mask hung around his neck like a deep cowl, casting shadows over his long face that only added to the dark scruff of his chin. Her eyes drifted over to his bare arms, watching the deep crimson ANBU tattoo on his bicep shift with the flexing of his muscles. The only thing that could possibly make that moment better than it was already would have been if he were totally naked. A silly, licentious grin crossed the kunoichi's face as she tittered a delirious giggle. Nudity sounded like an excellent idea.

Her fingers gripped the dark undershirt material, threatening to rip it as she fisted the fabric. It pulled free from his belt, showing a glimpse of tight abdominals as she slipped a hand underneath to touch skin. He was hot, not just in the handsome, delectable sense that she would have meant, but in the sweaty, burning up meaning of the word. Normally, she would have thought that to be the epitome of 'ick', but for that feverish moment, she wouldn't have minded licking off each bead of salty sweat from his skin so long as she got a taste of him. She had to be losing it, at least when it was anything involving Kakashi.

She kissed him again, teeth nibbling possessively on his lips as he held her close. One of his hands slipped under the coarse grey wool skirt to touch her thigh through her dark stockings, and down to the back of her knee. Sakura nearly jumped, breaking away from his mouth as the touch tingled up her spine and over her skin. Her leg lifted in reaction to his coaxing, parting and wrapping loosely over his outer thigh as his hand drifted down to her raised ankle and back up with the barest of touches. Her body arched towards his, begging to be touched as his hands reached her hips, hiking up her skirt until she stood there exposed just to him.

Kakashi groaned as he felt skin and lace underneath his fingers, tempted to see what she was wearing, but not yet. As much as his body wanted to rush into things and rip off every article of clothing, it wasn't what _he_ really wanted. No, savoring the moment seemed infinitely better to him than hurrying the act along. It wasn't every day that he got to live out a masturbatory fantasy out of one of his dirty little books, let alone do it with the woman he loved after twelve long years of self deprivation from such powerful pleasures. She smelled intoxicatingly good even with the mingling of sweat and musk added to the scent of plum blossoms, and she tasted even better. The distinct sweetness of vanilla lingered on his lips from her lip gloss, no doubt, along with a taste that was uniquely hers alone, a natural sugariness with a hint of salt that made his mouth water.

But best of all was the way Sakura felt against him and under his hands. A possessive little thrill tingled at the back of Kakashi's mind, that all of her reactions were once again because of him, that all of this was because she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Her body, at least, was willing to be his despite every other excuse she offered. If this was the only piece of her she would give him, so be it, so long as at least one part of her was his in a way that transcended mere friendship.

He bit her neck as she gave a loud moan, writhing up and down against him, her back arching. Her crotch rubbed right over his loins as her leg wrapped over his waist, giving her too much leverage over him as her hips rolled into his with increasing frequency. The sensation felt too good through all the layers of fabric as he struggled keep standing let alone to keep in control of himself against her sensual onslaught. But, he couldn't resist moving right along with her, each movement punctuated by a beautiful cry or moan that she desperately tried to smother into his skin. Her nails grated over his arms and shoulders, sinking into his ANBU tattoo as she held on when he pushed back, pinning her against the wall with a hard press of his body.

She moaned his name, and the sound jolted down to the base of his spine and made his loins tighten.

His hands pulled her shirt free then shoved the turtleneck upwards to expose her chest and the bra covering it. Unconsciously, Kakashi wetted his lips at the sight of the black satin before wondering how he was going to get the damned thing off of her. His mismatched eyes drifted even lower, unable to resist the temptation anymore to look at her underwear. As one part of him regretted giving in, every other unoccupied grain of his psyche rejoiced at what he saw as his mouth hung open in utter shock at her choice in lingerie. "Pink," he breathed with almost slavish devotion, hardly retaining enough dignity not to drool all over her.

Her panties were strawberry-pink to be exact, almost the exact same shade as her hair color, and made of soft, stretchy lace that hugged tightly over her crotch and hips. They looked like a very closely cut pair of short shorts, skimming just under the bony line of her pelvis and exposing much while leaving the most intriguing skin tantalizingly unseen. There was even a little ribbon bow front and center at the top, held in place with a tiny embroidered cherry blossom. As if the hip hugging panties weren't enough of a strain on Kakashi's delicate control, they were framed by a black lace garter belt which held up her dark stockings.

He had to be dreaming, but, as he blinked and saw the same pair of feminine underwear before his eyes, he knew they were all too real. His perverted mind slid sideways and quickly, reaching the breaking point with ease then running head long past it into pure insanity. A barely audible chuckle passed through his lips, sounding a little odd, even for an eccentric like him. He had died and this was Icha Icha Paradise playing out for his recently departed spirit in heaven.

Sakura blushed bright red as Kakashi ceased his assault completely to stare at her in stunned silence. Ok, so her underwear didn't match at all. If she had known he would be viewing her lingerie so closely or cared this much about her choice in clothes, she would worn the matching black lace pair she had. Really though, did he have to stare like that? Admittedly, it was a little exciting, and flattering, but it was also unnerving that he didn't say anything. Geez, it was just underwear, and if he didn't take if off her soon-

Abruptly, he dropped her leg from around his waist, forcing her to stand or else fall on her ass as he sunk to his knees. The kunoichi yelped at the suddenness, but managed to stay upright until her knees threatened to buckle again as she felt Kakashi's cheek nuzzle against her center. Guess he really did like her choice in underwear after all. The blush on her cheeks went from bright red to a purplish tomato color that must have looked very unattractive, not that he would even notice at the moment. He was much too busy staring at her crotch to see much else, which only made Sakura feel . . . well, she wasn't too sure how to feel, but sexy wasn't one of them.

All those pesky thoughts were gone instantaneously when she felt his hands slip between her legs. He stared up at her, and the devilish gleam of both his dark eye and the Sharingan made her quiver with expectation. Her hands reached back to hold onto the railing, steadying herself as her legs parted for him. His hands moved upwards over her stocking and garters to her panties, slipping underneath momentarily before fingering the lace with strange curiosity. She had to admit, the naughty look he gave her turned fascinated gleam as he stared at her panties, made her feel a swell of pride as well and boosted her sexual confidence. She shouldn't be that surprised that he had a thing for ladies' underwear, she supposed. He was Kakashi after all, the second biggest pervert in all of Konoha. He must really like pink lace to be this turned on.

Sakura's breath hitched in a soft gasp as his nose gently nudged her folds through the barrier of fabric. Her stomach convulsed, fluttering in nervousness and sudden heat like a flight of trapped butterflies. She whimpered in need and at the memories of the last time she felt him do something similar. Oh, this again. He had barely touched her and she already felt unbelievably wet. Her grip on the railing violently tightened. If he was going to do _that_ again to her, falling on her ass was nearly inevitable unless, by some miracle, she could manage to hold on. Kakashi didn't give her any choice though, as she felt his mouth begin to lap at the wetness flooding from her center. She sagged backwards against the wall, nearly swept away in the rush. She willed her elbows and knees to lock in order to keep from falling as the burning tingle spreading across her skin came quicker and with more intensity than she remembered previously, making her trembling all the more evident as she tried to hold back from losing her senses completely.

She stifled a moan that threatened to turn much too loud, willing it into a low whine before gasping for air as he sucked on her center. His tongue found her clit all too easily, lavishing it with extra attention and she struggled to keep from collapsing on top of him. She couldn't keep still completely though as her hips pressed down into the heat of his mouth for more. Each flick over the wet lace sent another wave coursing over her skin and right through her being. Too fast, it was coming too fast and too suddenly, like a leak in a dam that quickly got too powerful to hold back. Sakura bit her swollen lower lip to keep from screaming when Kakashi finally pulled her panties aside, burying his tongue inside.

Her hands let go of the railing to tangle in his grey hair, trying to push him deeper inside of her, as if that were at all possible. Each lap and swirl brought another wave of devastating pleasure crashing down over her body, draining away her strength as she slowly began to sink downwards. He grasped her waist when he felt her knees start to give way, forcefully pinning her to the wall while continuing to taste her deeply. Sakura clung to the railing again with one hand while holding on to his hair still with the other, rolling her hips into Kakashi's mouth in spite of his restraining grip.

The metal felt cold underneath her hand and pressed against her nearly bare ass, a contrast with the raging heat burning throughout her body. She was nearly there, teetering on the edge of a climax, her second one ever, and practically teased all the way there, when she felt his teeth graze her clit. Her eyes squinted shut as she tried to keep from shouting a dirty curse and her fingers dug into his scalp.

She was so close. So very close. So painfully and pleasurably close that she couldn't keep her cries quiet any longer. One more lap of Kakashi's tongue and Sakura was lost. Her vision went white. With a final thrust of her hips, she came hard and fast with a shout. Her body twisted against the wall and she shook the lift slightly as well. It wasn't enough to put them in any real danger, but it was enough to make the shinobi under her briefly wonder whether this was such a safe idea in the first place. How dangerous could it be to make love to the second rock-smashing super woman in all of Konoha while trapped in a steel box at least sixty stories high up in the air, held only by steel cables? Really, what was the worst thing that could happen?

Well, if he died today doing just that, it would be a hell of a way to go.

Her moaning slowly devolved into louder than normal, tired breaths. Her body began to slip towards the floor once again until Kakashi stood, pulling Sakura's limp form up with him. She clung to his neck and shoulders as she recovered her footing, wobbling on her high heels. It was miraculous that the shoes even stayed on without the benefit of straps. After a few moments, the hazy fog over her senses lifted, but the delicious warmth radiating throughout her body stayed. Subconsciously, her hands wandered down his arms to stop at his elbows as she looked up at him. The silver-haired shinobi stared back at her, and the look in his mismatched eyes made the warmth she felt ignite into a slow, but still burning fire.

Without a word or command, she peeled her bunched-up black turtleneck over her head and off, tossing it aside as she shook her pink hair loose. In the next instant, Kakashi was all over her once again with his mouth covering hers in a passion-filled kiss. His fingers grasped her breast, cupping it with the palm of his hand as his thumb rolled relentlessly over a taut nipple, stoking the burning need she felt even higher. He broke away from her lips with a groan, pressing his forehead against hers. She was sure he whispered something, but with the thundering pulse ringing in her ears, she couldn't hear it, nor did she really care. He could have whispered complete gibberish for all she knew, and she still wouldn't have cared so long as he didn't stop.

Sakura kissed him hard, her hands pulling frantically at his undershirt, working it up his body until they broke apart and he took it the rest of the way off. Her hands dug into his skin, feeling the hot, sweaty flesh and the muscles underneath as her eyes took it all in. His fingers grabbed the clasp of her satin bra, prying it apart and the garment slid off her shoulders. It fell to the floor after much entangled fumbling, as she refused to keep her hands off of him. His hands moved to the belt of her skirt, opening the buckle quickly before reaching around for the zipper on her left side. Kakashi fumbled with the small closure in his haste, cursing to himself as he grumbled, "You wear too many clothes, with too many things."

"Shut up and help me with your pants," Sakura complained back as she struggled with his devious bel. Just as she opened it though, he snagged her wrists and moving her hands out of the way before letting her go. With an abrupt push to her shoulder that was as gentle as it was forceful, she found herself spun around the other direction and facing the wall.

Just as she was about to give voice a hazy protest, Sakura felt his hands on the small of her back, his thumbs kneading her skin in a gentle massage. She leaned heavily against the wall, half bent over while braced up by her forearms. The skirt slowly slid off of her hips, his palms gliding down her legs as he guided the garment until it dropped around her ankles before she stepped out of it. Her butt bumped into the front of his pants, dimly feeling the bulge there and she had to bite down hard on her lower lip to suppress a shiver. She felt Kakashi's heavy breath tingle across the outer edge of her ear and couldn't help but shake with burning anticipation. "Not yet," he whispered into her ear as she felt his hands reach around her body.

"Why not?" she asked softly, the shaky tone of her voice betraying her excitement.

"Because I'm not done with you yet."

Sakura shuddered at his words, as if his fingers weren't doing enough already. What more could he possibly do to torture her? Green eyes closed with a moan as she felt him kiss her neck. The pads of his fingers lightly caressed the skin of her breasts, leaving a teasing, tingling sensation in their burning wake. Her nails scratched on the wood paneling before being clenched into fists at the tension thrumming through her body. One of his hands moved downwards over her stomach towards her pelvis, slipping down into the top of her panties.

Her body eagerly moved into Kakashi's touch as his fingers played with the soft, wet curls over her mound. The nibbling on her neck turned into a bite as he touched her folds, the combination making a strangled cry issue from the kunoichi's pleasure raw throat. Her back arched upwards into his body, desperate for more as a finger slipped inside of her only a little. She could hear his enjoyment of her torment in the satisfied little chuckle he gave, a small part of her hating him for it while every other part thoroughly enjoyed this particular type of agony. The chuckle turned into a groan as she twisted and reached upwards to pull his lips towards hers, fingers tugging on his hair to make sure he didn't even think of going anyway.

Suddenly, the merciless teasing of her center desisted when he stopped to pull her underwear down. The lace fell down her legs to rest in a delicate mound at her feet. She stepped out of them and turned back around, practically naked now except for a few remaining pieces of lingerie. If Kakashi minded that she had moved out of the pose he had placed her in, he didn't stop her. He was too intent on kissing her as well as holding her tightly against him to even notice much. The Copy Nin didn't stop her either, as she pushed on his shoulders, moving them towards another wall. His feet followed as his back hit the corner of the elevator lift, hands automatically grabbing onto the railing to steady himself.

This was a different position, to say the least as Sakura pulled away from his lips. A sultry little grin danced across her features while her hands ran down Kakashi's body, stopping at his loosened belt. She stared at the obvious hardness creating a bulge in his pants and nibbled on her lower lip. The last time she had touched him there, he had pulled her hand away before it went too far. She had been frightened at the time as well, being the first time in a long time that she had experienced sex with anyone, let alone him of all people. This time though, she wasn't afraid, and she certainly wasn't about to be stopped.

Her fingers slid over the rough, dark twill, tracing along the outside of his sex. She watched intently as his body stiffened, a mixture of emotions playing over his face. He groaned as the light touch turned into a grope, his hands gripping the railing tightly. Reaching for the fly of his pants, she undid the button then quickly pulled down the zipper. At the sight of his underwear, Sakura stopped and stared as a foolish looking grin twitched up the corners of her mouth.

Somehow, despite seeing him wear boxer briefs many, many times before, she had never quite pictured them looking so . . . tight. Not that she had ever had a reason to imagine Kakashi in his underwear. Staring at the taunt, dark grey shorts, she wished she had at least once indulged in such a fantasy. They looked surprisingly yummy on him, leaving practically nothing to the imagination as they stretched to nearly painful looking confinement.

Chancing a slight glance upwards, her grin widened as at what she saw there as well. Stubbornly, he looked away from her, almost shyly on top of embarrassed as a vivid red blush was smeared across his face. It looked odd for him to make that kind of face, but . . . she couldn't help but like it, a lot. Sakura leaned into him to kiss along his collar bone, licking a bead of sweat from his skin and making him moan slightly, obviously attempting hard to make no sound at all. Her hand touched him through the thin knit, lightly massaging his length. A rather forceful moan issued from his throat as his blush deepened. "You know, you look rather cute all embarrassed and horny," the pink-haired kunoichi whispered with a giggle as he groaned.

Well, he hadn't exactly had a woman's hands anywhere near his sex in over twelve years. How was he not supposed to be a little bit embarrassed, or horny for that matter? The fact that it was Sakura doing this to him, when she once only occupied his occasional masturbatory fantasy, only made matters worse. Given her previous horrible experiences with men, he also didn't think that she would have been this interested in playing with him in return for his previous attentions. However, as her fingers reached back to toy with his balls, he was glad to be wrong. Her tongue drew wet circles down Kakashi's chest then back up again as he started to relax, leaning back into the corner.

At last, he was beginning to settle into her ministrations, until he felt his boxers finally being tugged downwards to just hang off his thighs as her hands stopped. He could feel her stare burning into him, making his loins twitch in excitement as his pulse drummed in his ears. She hadn't even truly touched him yet, no skin to skin contact, and he already feel his balls tighten as well as a coil of pleasure slowly winding up in the pit of his stomach. He needed her, badly, and soon if he had any hope of holding back his release for much longer. "I haven't exactly done this . . ." Sakura started to say before trailing off.

Her finger tentatively touched him on the tip, running on the edge of Kakashi's foreskin. He hissed, taking in a deep breath as a tiny drop of pre-cum formed on the head of his manhood. For not having really done this before, she certainly seemed like she knew what she was doing. Between loud breaths, he managed to finally ask, ". . . Oh?"

"Yeah . . ." she said while turning her hand to run a finger down the large, throbbing vein underneath, "It kind of went by pretty fast, those times . . . I never really got a chance to . . ."

Explore, kind of like what she was doing right now. Anatomy was one thing, knowing what certain things looked like and how they were supposed to react. But actually touching flesh and blood, feeling the pulse thundering in her hand, the heat and sweat, was an entirely different experience. It was empowering to see the sort of reactions on his face that she brought about with just a simple, delicate touch. To see it on his particular set of features though, with the foreboding looking Sharingan staring at her and mysterious mouth too used to being covered by a mask, made the situation all the more thrilling.

Kakashi shuddered, grabbing for her wrist before sliding his hand down the back of hers a second later. He didn't stop her as the palm of her hand wrapped over him, his fingers intertwined with hers. He made her grip on him tighten, moving the foreskin back and forth in a manner harder than she expected on such a sensitive part of his body. With the way he groaned though, hips thrusting forward into her hand, she imagined that he really liked it. His dark eye rolled up into his head. Ok, so maybe he really, really liked it then.

She kissed him, bodies pressed together as her other hand slid down his back to squeeze his ass. He returned the favor, groping her butt in return while hardening the kiss as his tongue slipped into her mouth. Suddenly, Sakura's hands let go, reaching upwards to enfold his neck as her body rubbed up and down against his. Kakashi pushed her back up against the wall just above the railing with a hard press of his body until she was utterly pinned then rolled his hips into hers as his hands went everywhere. He kissed her forcefully, his head tilted to plunge his tongue down into her yielding mouth.

The kunoichi's legs swung up to wrap around his waist, when a loud bang sounded on the opposite wall. Distracted a moment, he turned his head towards the noise only to be pulled back with a tug on his hair before being kissed soundly once again. Whatever it was, it could not have been that important when compared to his overwhelming need for her. "It's just a shoe," she whispered between kisses, her hands clinging to him, "It hit the wall."

He should have known that, after taking just a second to think about it. Guess it really wasn't that important after all. With a grunt, Kakashi moved with the grind of Sakura's body, counteracting to her rhythm as his loins rubbed against her slick folds. The scent of her arousal was heavy in the air, mingling with the musk of their combined sweat and sweltering heat around them. Her back arched off the wall, pulling away from his lips to sound out loud her pleasure, or torment perhaps from the anguish sonorous in the tone of her voice.

He roughly pressed her shoulders back down, keeping her still above the railing as she tried to twist against him. The movement of his body slowed to a deliberately torturous pace, sliding slowly over her center as she quivered. Sakura whimpered, desperate for more but unwilling to say anything that would shatter the moment. As odd of a feeling as it was, she actually wanted him to do this to her, to torment her in ways she hadn't dreamed of before, to make her want him so badly that it hurt. She never imagined though that her heart would hurt as well. His lips glided over her neck up to neck, whispering in a panting breath as her scent wafted in his nose, "I haven't done this in a long time . . . twelve years, in fact . . ."

"I haven't either . . ." she answered breathlessly, her hands drifting down his body to his hips. Kakashi grabbed her wrists, pinning her hands to the wall before she could touch him further and distract him from what both of them wanted. Angling his hips, the tip of his member rested at the opening of her wet cleft. Twelve years of reluctant celibacy, and it ended like this. He couldn't have imagined a better or more fitting ending.

With one thrust, the last shard of coherent thought left her shattered mind. White flashed before her eyes but didn't explode in the sweet oblivion she so craved. Kakashi squinted his mismatched eyes shut at the sudden tightness enveloping him, smooth and wet yet unbelievably warm and relieving as he let out the breath he had been holding. It had been too long since he had felt such a transcendent thing.

He let go of her wrists, planting one hand on the wall instead as he leaned onto it and the other held her bottom to keep her steady. His hips ground slow and hard into her, deliberately making her nearly scream and her body thrash and twist. She bit her lips to muffle the sound, turning her head away from him.

He certainly seemed to know what he was doing for being so out of practice. She felt each thrust roll into her with precision, making her suffer every subtle bump or twitch with a craving desire to feel even more. Every time he withdrew, she ached for him to be back inside, exploring all of her secrets and stretching her to the fullest. The way Kakashi moved within her, pressed firmly into her farthest reaches, she was filled indeed, though she couldn't imagine how. Kami-sama, he wasn't even _that_ big when she touched him earlier! It was impossible that he suddenly got bigger, which left only the conclusion that he was just that amazing.

Kakashi being a demi-god of sex was certainly an idea she could more than willingly accept.

The copy nin nipped at her throat, sucking on her skin. He thrust into her hard, making her scream and her body arched clear off of the wall. Her nails dug into the flesh of his shoulders, scratching him and he hissed at the primal mixture of pain and pleasure. The nip at her neck turned into a bite. The slow, punishing grind at which he moved within her turned into a faster pounding, sliding in and out at an increased tempo that left her breathless and helpless to do much more than enjoy it. Her arms tightened around his neck as she kissed him, slipping her tongue into his slack mouth.

Kakashi's voice drifted over her ear in a tender sounding whisper again, but the words came out incoherently in her brain. All she could do was moan in response, and try to hold on. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin the entire moment by falling on her ass if he let go. Somehow, with the tight grip her legs had on his waist, she doubted that would happen even as the mini torrents of pleasure rolling over her threatened to weaken her completely. Each movement within her sent another spark of jolting electricity throughout her jangled nerves.

As cliché as it sounded, water and lightning felt like an apt metaphor to the kunoichi to describe the conflict of emotions threatening to tear her apart. All the awful sounding phrases, a deluge of sensation, floods of emotion, torrents of desire, risings tides of passion, violent kisses, and electrifying sensations, all of them which she had heard elsewhere in her limited romantic readings, suddenly seemed a pretty accurate depiction for what she felt at that moment. The pleasure, the heat, the craving need for more, the slight stab of pain in her heart that she couldn't ignore, all of it was too much for Sakura to take she buried her eyes into Kakashi's chest as she cried out. White-hot oblivion overtook her senses as she clung desperately to him. Her climax hit with all the force of a tsunami, threatening to drown her in the overwhelming ecstasy.

The walls of her core tightened around him, pulling him along into madness as well as her insides shuddered deliciously. He withdrew and crashed back inside of her with one final thrust, roaring animal-like as his cum spilled inside of her. Oblivion overtook him and the strength that had been holding them both upright left his legs in a beautiful instant.

* * *

Unable to defy gravity any long, the two lovers slipped down the wall, and out of the frame of the elevator's camera, to end up in a tangle of sweaty, exhausted limbs and fallen clothes on the floor. Or, at least that's what Ino imagined it must have looked like before the image was knocked from her brain by Genma's shouting. "Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me!"

Her blue eyes rolled, almost grateful for the sudden distraction. Almost. If her partner knew how wet her underwear was at that very moment, she would never live it down. Or worse. The only thing more embarrassing than admitting to how turned on she was would be his eventual offer to 'help' her with her little problem. No doubt, he'd be more than willing to give his assistance once again since he had already done so before, only with less than desirable results. She took a sideways glance at him to see a pout on his face, and found the expression sort of cute when added in to his furrowed, frustrated brow.

If he did offer at that very moment, she wouldn't have been able to say no to a second chance at exploring the reason for his reputation. Ino abruptly looked away from Genma when he returned her gaze, ignoring the similar stare he was doubtlessly giving her in return.

What did it matter anyway? Kakashi had confessed his feelings, twice, and point blank to Sakura, even if the admissions both came in the unfettered middle of sex. It was good enough though, wasn't it? Their mission was done now, and was she ever glad of that. They could go home after tonight, report into Tsunade-sama, and she could see Shikamaru once more. Though, the more she dwelled on returning home, the more she found herself, well, sort of missing the notorious lothario sitting beside her. He really was fun to be around, and handy on missions when it came to brute tasks. He certainly didn't confuse her with technical terms, or talked down to her. He was certainly smart too, and professional. He just . . .

He just wasn't someone she expected to miss so much when they first started out.

She looked back up at the screen and frowned as they didn't see any movement back into the camera's range. The moaning and groaning over the speakers died down, replaced by loud, labored breaths followed by a satisfied sounding male chuckle punctuated by a more feminine moan then a giggle. "You know, I really like your underwear . . ."

Ino's eyes rolled again as Genma chuckled. "Sounds like round two is about to begin . . ."

Oh, how she hoped he was wrong as she fidgeted in the chair, for her sake at least. Then again, if they were about to have another go round, why weren't they in view of the camera? The blind spot in the cameras was only so small. If they were about to go at it again on the floor, they would have seen some sort of movement already, but they hadn't. She opened up her mouth to argue with him on that exact thought when all the noises from the elevator seemed to stop. No, they weren't dead as the sound of breath came over the speakers from the hidden microphones, but it certainly didn't sound like they were exerting themselves anymore.

All they heard was normal silence and nothing more. Something was definitely missing

Wasn't Sakura going to say something? She had heard those whispers of his, right? She had to have heard it. He spoke them right into her ear after all. It was impossible not to have heard them. It wasn't just sinking into her now, was it? Suddenly, Kakashi's head came into view along with the kunoichi's pink hair as he held her in his arms and lap. She seemed to return the embrace, but there was something set on her wide brow that Kakashi couldn't see that made Ino's frown deepen.

Sakura did hear those three little words of his, right? She wasn't too busy moaning before to notice that he had already said that he loved her, was she?

With a sinking feeling, she watched helplessly as Kakashi lifted her best friend's head from where it rested on his shoulder to look into her eyes. Their foreheads touched, and the sense of dread within her turned into a panic as her heart climbed into her throat. What if Sakura still had no idea what he was about to say?

"I love you." Kakashi whispered softly to the pink-haired young woman, his voice barely audible over the speakers.

Ino's aquamarine eyes widened as her fears came into sharp focus on the monitor. Their entire mission was about to unravel because of billboard brow's lack of hearing. "Oh no . . ."

Genma's mouth dropped open in shock, the realization hitting him as well as he breathed, "Oh hell . . ."

* * *

"You know, I really liked your underwear . . ."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle as post-coital bliss continued to warm her body from the tips of her ears down to the very end of her toes. Kakashi's warmth didn't feel too bad either as he laid flat on his back while she rested on top of him with her ear pressed to his naked chest. His chuckle reverberated straight into her, rich and welcoming, free from both thought and care. The sound of it was absolutely perfect. For once, he sounded genuinely happy and it made her smile in return. Everything seemed absolutely perfect, as if she suddenly got stuck in some wonderful dream too miraculous to end.

And yet, this wasn't a dream, was it?

They had actually, well . . . she didn't want to call it fucking, but there wasn't much else to call it. It had been sex, and rough sex at that, even if it was good sex too. Her neck still hurt from where he had actually given her a hickey. Parts of her body she didn't think she had ever used ached in soreness or just felt exhausted. The dirty feeling of stickiness lingered on her skin the longer she laid there on top of him. The scent of what they had done hung in the air, not as intoxicating as it once seemed. No, this certainly wasn't as magical as it once felt.

Everything was still the same as before. They had still failed their mission, and well . . . she wasn't sure what they were to each other now, only that it certainly wasn't just friends any longer. She fought down a sigh while closing her eyes. Just friends. The comforting ring to that simple expression of a wonderful relationship was gone, never to come back, and the lack of its reassuring sound worried her. No, more than worried her. The lack of a definition now in their relationship downright frightened her, not knowing exactly where to go from here. What would they be now that they couldn't stay just as friends? Friends with benefits? Lovers? Or was this the final act of their partnership?

This wasn't how it was supposed to be, was it? Everything was so much easier before when she knew exactly how she felt about him without any second guessing. This was why she just wanted to be friends with Kakashi and nothing more. If she had just resisted him even a little more strongly . . . then she wouldn't have had to rethink everything she ever felt about him, maybe her heart would then hurt a little less. How did she feel about Kakashi? How many times did that question have to go through her head before she had an answer? What did she want from him? Just sex? What if she wanted more than that? What if . . .?

No, this couldn't be love. If it was love, it wouldn't hurt this much to think about. She would know if it was, and the only think she knew at that moment was that this wasn't it.

It . . . couldn't be love, because if it was . . .

Pain stabbed through the kunoichi's chest. If everything she felt for him was love, then why was she so scared of it?

She ducked her head into the crook of his neck, curled up in a small ball against him. No, this was impossible. She didn't love him, and there was no way he could possibly love her in return. He . . . She . . . It would never work. It never worked for her before. Lee, Naruto, they both stopped loving her when things didn't work out like they expected. Kakashi wouldn't be any different . . . would he?

She could not be in love with him. This, what they had done, had to be something else. It was not an act of love that they had committed. There was some perfectly logical reason for all this that wasn't love.

And yet, the possibility that it was exactly what she feared the most made Sakura shiver when she felt his fingers gently touch her back. He hugged her softly, but the embrace didn't provide any comfort for her troubled mind. After a moment, Kakashi started to get up, pulling her with him. She stayed curled against his chest, still sitting in his lap while facing him as he got his legs and sat on the back of his heels. Softly, he pulled on her shoulders, arms curled around her back. With a nudge of the back of his hands on her jaw line, she looked up at him.

Kakashi smiled at her and the look of serene happiness on his face made her heart shudder in pain. The barely-there dimples on his time-worn features made him look more handsome than he ever had before. She wanted to look away from him just to stop the pain pressing down on her chest, but couldn't bring herself to do just that. This couldn't be love. Love didn't hurt this much.

The pain wouldn't go away, not when his forehead pressed against her. For a moment, she thought she would cry as he leaned in closer to her lips before a flutter of lashes banished the gathering tears away. Sakura shuddered out a nearly tortured sigh then held her breath as his hands held her face between his palms.

"I love you."

Kakashi's voice whispered the three words to her then he smiled brightly . . . until he noticed that Sakura hadn't said anything in return.

The smile on his face faded away, slowly and painfully, the longer he stared at Sakura and she simply stared back. Her green eyes were wide at first, in shock he assumed, which he had not really expected, but then it changed as the color drained away from her face. No, she was looking at him in fear slowly growing to disbelieving horror as she began shaking her head back and forth. "You're lying."

"I'm not-" Kakashi started to say as his hands holding her face moved to brush her cheeks. She reacted with a violent twitch, pulling away from the touch. He reached to touch her again only to have his hand smacked away. "Don't. Just don't."

"Sakura, I'm not-"

"Don't touch me!" she yelled at him, her back pressed to the wall.

His face fell entirely as his heart dropped into his stomach. This wasn't supposed to be happening, not after what they had just done. This wasn't supposed to happen at all. His fist clenched in bitterness, watching as she looked away from him. "I wasn't lying to you."

"Then you can't mean it," Sakura said as she started searching for her clothes, "You cannot possibly mean it."

"What if I do?"

"You don't."

"And what if I do? What if I do, indeed, love you?" Kakashi questioned, doing his damnedest to keep his anger in check.

The most confident belief filled her voice as she stood up to wiggle those delightful pink panties he liked so much up her legs. "Then you're deluding yourself into thinking this is love when it's something else."

Glaring as her, he stood up as well while fixing his own underwear. "If you're so smart suddenly, then what is it I feel then? Because if it isn't love, I-"

"It's just unresolved sexual tension," Sakura muttered as she pulled her bra back on dispassionately, "It's nothing more than that."

A noise came from Kakashi that she never imagined he would make. It sounded like a cross between a splutter of disbelief and a raspberry. As she glanced over at him though, the look on his face was even stranger, stuck half way between stunned disbelief and righteous anger. Then, as quickly as she had seen the expression on his face, it changed to one she was all too familiar with seeing in his dark eye, cold fury. "Unresolved sexual tension? You honestly believe I pushed up against the wall, kissed you, fucked you senseless, and then declared my love for you just because of unresolved sexual tension?"

"Yes, but if you want to call it plain, old lust, be my guest." She finished zipping up her skirt and then redid her belt as Kakashi stood there with his pants hanging around his ankles. Glancing over him once, she then looked down at the floor beside his feet. "Can you hand me my shoe?"

His arms shook in anger as he looked then reached down to pick up the lone black heel sitting stranded by his foot. Turning the high heel over in his hands, he knew she was wrong. He knew what he felt. Sakura could deny it all she wanted, but that didn't change an ounce of what he felt for her. He held out the shoe to her with one hand. She reached out to take it when he hooked her wrist with his thumb, pinning her hand against her own footwear. Despite trying to yank herself free, she stopped when he gently caressed the back of her forearm with his free hand. It was just a simple touch, a whisper of fingers along fine, delicate hairs, but it caused goosebumps to rise up all over her body. Unconsciously, she shuddered out a breath then shivered as he gave out a small snicker. "What do you call that then, _still_ unresolved sexual tension?"

Sakura ripped her hand away from him, causing the shoe to fall to the floor between them. She stared at him in anger before reaching down to grab it on her own. "Now which one of us is lying?" she heard Kakashi ask with bitterness in his voice as she stood up again.

"Stop trying to make this into something it isn't."

"Only when you stop deluding yourself."

"You first! All these years you've never once talked about your personal feelings, ever, and you just expect me to believe you? It took you years to even treat me as more than your personal field medic, like an actual friend. I had to watch you nearly die to get you to open up that much to me. I nearly had to die myself to get you to show any type of emotion past your cocky stone-faced act, to actually know that you cared about me even a little, but now you've suddenly decide that you love me? And you expect me to buy that?"

"This wasn't exactly a sudden conclusion of mine . . ."

"You can't possibly mean it."

A smirk crossed Kakashi's face. "But I do."

Sakura growled in frustration, stamping a bare foot onto the floor. "No, you don't."

"I know I am not exactly an easy person understand sometimes . . . but you know I mean what I say . . ." He started to say before catching the glare on her face and realizing his words weren't always the absolute truth all the time, "You know what I mean. I would not joke about this sort of . . . thing. I am not the one in denial anymore here. I have admitted to it where as you haven't."

"I don't-"

"I know what I feel, and no matter what you say to me, it won't change how I feel . . . I love you."

"Please, just stop . . ." Sakura sighed as she went back to getting dressed again.

"Why not? I love you. Isn't it what you're supposed to say when-"

"Don't, just stop. Please?"

"I know you're stubborn sometimes, but how many times do I have to say it until it'll sink in?"

"Kakashi . . ."

"Fine, I'll try it again. I love you."

"Stop."

"I love you."

"Stop already."

"I love you!"

"Stop saying that!" Sakura screamed at him, clothes flailing in her hands, "You do not love me!"

With a howl of frustration, she pelted him with his own sleeveless undershirt, which she had been conveniently holding, flinging it at his head. He ducked slightly and caught it easily, staying almost crouched as the kunoichi banged on the elevator lift walls in frustration. Eventually, she stopped with an exhausted whine, burying her face in her hands. "You can't possibly love me."

The look on Kakashi's face, which had been building in anger the more their heated exchange had continued, melted away as he watched her furiously pull her shirt down over her head. "How could I not love you?" he muttered before ducking his own head into his shirt.

Bending down to pick up his pants he looked over to see Sakura stopped, staring at him as he stood back up. He silently redid the fly and his belt, trying not to look at her in return. "You thought that I didn't notice you for years, but I finally did. I've been noticing you everyday ever since you wore that kimono last summer to the festival. You had finally grown up. I haven't been able to stop stealing looks since," Kakashi confessed, unable to look at her, "I haven't been able to get you out of me head since. I've tried. For months, I've tried. I tried to bury it in so much denial that I was practically drowning in it, and then all this happened, and . . . I felt like I would ever be able tell you . . ."

She stood there in numb shock and he paused for a moment then said, "All those things I said earlier, about loving someone else but not being able to tell her? It was you . . . It was always you."

The horrified, shocked look on Sakura's face came back as she covered a hand over her mouth while clutching her stomach. The fact finally had sunk in that the man across from her, her ex-sensei, her partner, her best friend, did, indeed, love her, and he meant every word of it.

His heart sank even further. Kakashi rolled the mask that had been hanging around his neck back up. He then reached for his eye patch on the floor, pulling it back over the Sharingan. Stopping, he looked over at her again to see tears forming in her light jade eyes. Unable to hold back his instinct anymore, he moved over towards her side of the lift, arms reaching out for her. Sakura abruptly turned away from him as he hugged her side instead. Her body shook in his arms, and he was sure she had to be crying, even if it was silent tears. He buried his face in her ruined pink hair, breathing in the scent of her tangled curls. "I already know-" he started to whisper when she abruptly tried to push him away.

"How? How can you possibly know how I feel right now?" She spat with a hiss, trying to push him away without any success as he held on, "You know nothing because you've never tried before! You know nothing about how I feel!"

"Then tell me why?" he asked, swallowing down on the rising lump in his throat, "Just tell me why it's such a horrible thing that I love you?"

Sakura squinted her eyes shut to stop the tears from rolling down her face. This wasn't how it was supposed to be between them, she kept telling herself. This was never meant to happen. This wasn't what she wanted at all. This couldn't be what she wanted. And yet . . .

And yet, he did love her, or so he said. Why couldn't she accept it? What was stopping her? Wasn't this everything else her younger self wished for?

"Because . . ." she started to say before shaking her head, covering face with her hands, "Because this wasn't supposed to happen again. Because I can't-"

"Can't what? Can't love me?"

"Because I can't go through it all again!" Sakura screamed, shoving him away. Kakashi let go of her but didn't back away completely as he stood just within arm's reach of her. He watched her wipe the remains of tears from her eyes, calming down and his heart felt heavy from having to just stand there. Then she straightened up, strained emotion on her face as she spoke, "Twice already this has happened to me. I've slept with my friends because I thought it was love, and then they left me because it wasn't what they expected it to be. Twice I've had the best relationships in my life ripped out from under me by love, by the illusion of true love, and they were never the same since. They both moved on from me, and I let them. I've told you this before. You knew this, and still you stand there telling me you love me?"

"Sakura-" he started to say as he reached out for her, only to stop as she raised her hand.

"Just let me ask you something, please?" she pleaded with him, looking directly into his dark eye. He didn't say anything as she took a deep breath before continuing, "Do you know why I agreed to be your partner in the first place, for all these years?"

"Because you trusted me, because I offered you a chance to make a difference."

"It wasn't just that . . ." Sakura admitted as she blinked away more fresh tears that threatened to overcome her, "It was because you were the last friend I had left that I knew I could be close to and care about without . . ."

"You didn't want to fall in love again . . ." Kakashi finished the sentence for her, "Because you didn't want to get hurt again."

She nodded gravely. "As the years went by, I figured it just wasn't meant for me. After Kiba, I stopped even trying. I gave up on love even if I didn't stop believing in it. I trusted you, and you trusted me, and I thought that was enough. I thought we could be close without all the silly romantic notions getting in the way, that it was all I needed in my life, that it was enough, and then . . ."

"And then this happened . . ." he turned away from her, slinking back into the far corner of the elevator.

It was the only thing he could do to keep the torrent of feelings crashing all over within him from showing in his lone eye. He couldn't make sense of it all, feeling sadness for her, confusion that he hadn't realized this until now, bitterness that he was about to be rejected, and anger at her for being so silly. Yet, somehow, he could understand her reasons for believing what he did. This was why he didn't want to give in to the silly emotion in the first place. Love hurt as much as it killed his friends, but it didn't have to be that way. He couldn't still hold onto his past hypocritical belief that love wasn't worth dying for when he knew it was worth everything in the world he had to give. This time could be different, for the both of them. He could be different, if only for her. "I'm not Naruto, Sakura," he said after a long moment, "I am not Lee either, and I am certainly not Sasuke."

A shameful blush spread across her cheek as the pain in her heart felt like it would tear her apart. "I know that . . ."

"Then how can you be absolutely certain that this will be just the same as that. I haven't left you. I don't intend to, ever. I will always be there for you. I will always . . ."

"How do you know that? How do you know it will always be like that? You can't throw around absolutions and expect them to stick."

"I-" Kakashi started to say until he met Sakura's eyes. How could he reassure her like that when even he didn't know if it would? He couldn't just lie to her and tell her everything was going to be alright when who knew what could happen in a few years time. "I am not a fortune teller. I don't know what'll happen in the future and neither do you. What I do know is that my feelings won't change."

"You certain of that?" she asked seriously, a hint of weariness on the edge of her voice.

"I'm just as stubborn as you are."

"And what about trust?"

Kakashi blinked as she brought it up. "Trust?" he asked, "What does that have to . . .?"

"It has everything to do with this. After today, how am I to trust you any more?"

As much as he was loathed to admit it, she had a good point. He nearly flinched, diverting his eye from her a moment as she went on, "You say you love me, but you won't listen to me. You won't tell me things important to our mission. You certainly broke the trust Jun had in us to be professionals."

"That was different. Jun-san didn't know what she wanted anymore."

"So you made the decision for her."

Kakashi lifted his head, staring at her. "I already apologized-"

"But how am I supposed to trust you when you wouldn't even follow a client's orders? I trusted you to know what to do for the both of us, and now you can't even do that. Saying you love me now won't make any of this better. How can it fix what's already broken?"

"It isn't broken."

"Maybe not completely, but then why does it feel like we're breaking down? Why after four years is it all falling apart on us? What changed?" Sakura questioned, gesturing with her hands in frustration.

"Nothing has changed."

"Yes, it has, and you know it. You don't act like the man I know anymore! Why?!"

"Because you're driving me insane!" Kakashi yelled at her, uncharacteristically, "I haven't been able to concentrate since we got here because I haven't been able to get my mind off of you! I already said this Why do you think I even admitted my feelings for you?! Because being in denial any longer would turn me nuttier than Gai!"

"Then welcome to the club! Do you think I enjoy this?! Do you think I like not being able to believe in you?! It sucks! I want to trust you, but I can't anymore! This is why I didn't want this to happen, because I knew you would change, and I didn't want that! This isn't us, this isn't how we were supposed to be . . ."

"Then why didn't you stop me?" he asked, almost growling at her, "If you didn't want this to happen, then you should have pushed me away, unless . . ."

A guilty look crossed Sakura's face as she looked away from him. "You weren't alone in wanting something to happen . . ." she admitted, finally looking up at him, "I didn't think that you . . ."

"No, obviously you didn't think."

"This doesn't solve anything, Kakashi," Sakura said as she picked up her coat, "Snapping at me now won't make it any better."

And once again, she had a valid point. She sighed, shaking her head. "Look at us. We failed Jun, and now we're fighting. This entire mission has been one long fight between us, and I am tired of it. I can't trust you, and you say I'm driving you crazy. If this isn't the end of a perfectly reasonable partnership, I don't know what is."

"This isn't the end. Nothing is broken, Sakura. I still . . ." He did love her, still. Nothing she could say could change that. Even if she rejected him, it wouldn't change anything. How could he stop now even if he wanted to, even when it seemed hopeless?

She still shook her head, not believing him for a moment. "Then what happens next? Because we certainly aren't just friends anymore . . . How are we even going to be able to work together if-"

"You're over-thinking this, Sakura."

"And for once, you're not thinking enough!" She frowned as she shouted at him in frustration, "Our entire relationship is falling apart, and yet you still think that love is the answer?!"

"Yes!" he shouted defiantly at her.

"Why?!"

"Because I love you, that's why!" he shouted in Sakura's face. But, just seeing the pitiful look in her green eyes, he knew that just love wouldn't be enough.

Hearing her talk, he wasn't even sure if it was love that he felt, anymore. What was the point in believing if all it did was make him someone else, someone even he didn't want to be? Would hearing her just say three little words to him make either of them whole ever again? Would it really solve anything? He didn't know, and probably would never know now, but he couldn't stop believing that it felt right. Why couldn't Sakura understand that? "What do you want, Sakura?" Kakashi pleaded with her, "Just tell me so I can understand."

"I don't know what I want . . ."

"But you don't trust me, and you can't-"

"I didn't say that."

"Then you do-."

"I didn't say that either!" she shouted at him, "This isn't that easy for me! You of all people should understand that! I don't know anymore! I don't know what to do or even think! I just want to get out of here! I want to go home!"

"Hiding isn't going to make this any better."

"Neither will pretending everything between us is ok, Kakashi," she snapped at him, regretting it a moment later as she furiously mussed her hair, "I can't . . . I can't lie to myself, and pretend like that."

"It isn't lying or pretending if you just let it go . . ." he pleaded with her, the gentle tone to his voice drawing her in before she abruptly looked away again. The shinobi exhaled slowly, closing his eyes.

The question was could she really just let it all go? It was one more question she couldn't even begin to answer to herself. She stood in the opposite corner of the elevator from him, hugging herself. He made it seem so easy standing over there, looking as unemotional as ever, even when she knew he had to be in as much turmoil as she was, if not more. She would have given anything to make the pain in her heart go away. Why did this have to hurt so much? She had been trying to avoid something like happening for the third time for years, and now it had happened again anyway, and with the one man she couldn't bear to lose. Why did she have to care about him so much? Why couldn't he have just stayed her friend?

"We can't go back to how it was, Sakura. I don't want it that way anymore, and you're too unwilling to go forward. You won't even try. Are you really willing just to throw it all away?"

The pink-haired young woman shuddered with a heavy wince, "No . . ."

"But we can't be just friends anymore . . ."

"I know . . ."

"Then what are we?"

"I don't know anymore . . ."

The silence that fell between them didn't bring relief for either of them, or any palpable tension begging to be broken, which would have been preferable to the nothingness hanging in the air. The only comfort the quiet gave was that at least they wouldn't have to hear the other say something else.

* * *

Ino wiped away the silent tears from her eyes and stood up from the console. Her fingers danced over the keys before her. Their plan had backfired, horrifically. There wasn't any point in trapping their victims any longer. The lights in the elevator went on, and the lift began to descend again. She punched one more key, ensuring that it went straight to the lobby without picking up anyone else, and then stood up. She walked away from the console without another word.

Genma looked over at her in shock at first, about to protest letting them go, when he saw the grim look on her face. Even if he wanted to believe there was a chance things would work out if they kept them there any longer, he knew it wouldn't happen. They had gone long past something like that. Instead, he frowned at the screen, watching the relieved expressions come over the faces of Kakashi and Sakura. "Fuck."

* * *

When the lights turned brighter in the dim elevator, a wave of relief went over the face of the troubled kunoichi. Then the elevator started its descent, and the relief turned to happiness, at least until she looked over her shoulder to see the brooding look on Kakashi's face. Avoiding another glance at him, she reached down to pick up her coat off the floor. He reached down as well for his sweater and coat, putting them both back on without a word as the levels of the building clicked by one by one.

The closer they got to the lobby of the Minagawa building, the more Sakura could feel the tension rise. He would say something, she just knew it, and she dreaded it. What more could he possibly say? Hadn't they done enough to each other? What she wanted most at that moment was to just get out of there, away from him, and then . . .

And then . . .

She didn't know the answer to that either. She knew running from him wasn't a good idea, but it certainly seemed like the most desirable option at the moment. What was the point in staying there anyway? Their mission was done. At least at home she could be away from him; there she could stop a moment and just think. At least back in Konoha she had other people she could talk to besides him. Her mind seemed to settle on that idea when the elevator doors peeled open with an electronic ping. The sunlight and noise of the lobby shattered the dark silence of the lift. No one noticed them at all, milling around them as if they weren't even there.

Sakura stepped out into the light only to be pulled back by a tug on her elbow that dragged her back a step into the elevator. She looked back over her shoulder at Kakashi. He stared her, a pleading look in his dark eye. "Don't go."

She shrugged his hand off of her arm, backing away from the elevator door. "What does it matter if I stay or not?"

Turning away, she walked on while knowing he would follow her anyway. Sure enough, she could hear his footfalls not too far behind her. "Where are you going?" he asked after a moment.

"I don't know, home probably."

"The mission is to stay until the board vote is over. Maybe, we could-"

"Fuck the mission," Sakura cursed softly, keeping her voice down in the crowd as she spun around at him, "We failed. We're not longer contracted to Jun, and even then, our cover here is blown. We have no more resources, and no idea how to even help anymore. Jun is going to lose this company. I fail to see how sticking around will really change anything one way or another. I . . . I just want to go home."

Turning her back to him, the kunoichi took one step then stopped at the sound of Kakashi's voice. "You cannot run from this forever."

She then started walking away again. "This isn't running. If it were, I would be moving a lot faster, don't you think?"

"We are not going back to Konoha, Sakura."

"_We_ aren't. I am."

"Sakura-"

"Don't even start it again, I've had enough for right now. If I stay, all we're going to do is fight, and hurt each other, and drive each other insane without coming close to fixing anything between us. I just . . . I just want to be alone right now."

"And I'm just supposed to let you go?" Kakashi asked as he caught up to her, walking beside her as they neared the wall of windows looking out onto the snow-covered plaza. "We've been joined at the hip for over four years. We've spent practically every waking moment together before this happened, and now you need me to let you go, alone. You know me well enough to know that I can't just do that, not now."

Her pace slowed, shaking her head as she went. "After what just happened, did you really expect me to want to stick around? Why? Is it really that hard for you to be alone for once? You don't need me that much."

"I care about you too much to just let you go," he admitted, standing just over her shoulder.

"Then we're just about even," Sakura admitted as well as she stopped, crossing her arms under her chest, "I . . . I care too much to fight with you any more right now. I need to be alone for a little, just so I can think."

"How long will that be?"

"I don't know."

"Then you know I can't-"

She turned to face him, pleading as she looked up, "Just let me go, Kakashi. Please, just let me go?"

A torn look crossed his face, the conflict evident in his dark, droopy eye. If he let her go now, he had no idea what would happen next in their relationship, and no chance to influence her thoughts. Despite all that happened in the elevator, he couldn't give up on the idea that she would come to her senses. It had to be possible, didn't it? He wasn't just deluding himself into thinking that, was he? Some part of her undeniably felt something for him that was more than mere friendship. She needed him as much as he needed her, she wanted him as much as he wanted her, but did she really love him as much as he loved her, was she just burying it deep under layers of pain and denial? If he let her go, would she finally realize it or would she just keep on denying what he knew was there? What if he was wrong?

He didn't want her to go, his gut feeling screaming at him that it was a bad idea. If he really loved her, he should be fighting to keep that love alive, not passively allowing it to end. But what was there really to fight? There was nothing to sling a jutsu or a fist at that would change a thing. Sakura's mind was set on leaving him out to dry, so what choice did he really have?

"This isn't over," Kakashi said as she starting to walk away again, "At least not unless you want it to be. I'm not going anywhere, but you already knew that . . ."

She looked over her shoulder at him, stopping. "I'll keep it in mind . . ."

"Don't . . . Don't run too far. I'll be waiting when you get back."

". . . If I don't change my mind, I'll see you again at Ichiraku, a last meal before Tsunade-shishou kills us both for screwing up this one," Sakura said with a tepid smile that quickly went away as Kakashi remained silent. "I'll see you."

"See you."

She took a few more steps away from him, keeping her eyes on him. Then, she looked back outside, picking up her pace until she was almost running for the glass and metal doors. Kakashi followed for a few steps and then stopped. He watched until she was outside and gone in the crowd. He had let her go. He had actually let her go after all, and each moment she wasn't there was another moment that he regretted it. "Shit," he cursed to himself, pacing the lobby floor in an aimless circle, "I can't believe I just let her go."

And yet, he had done just that.

* * *

Ino walked up to a small shelf sitting in the back corner of the dark security office filled with electronics. From her time spent inside the head of one of the guards, she knew exactly what she was looking at, the video recorders for each of the monitors they had been watching. Without a copy of the video, no one in all of the Minagawa building would know what had gone in a certain stopped elevator. The five unconscious guards resting in one corner of the room wouldn't be talking either, least not if they wanted to keep their jobs intact. Who would really keep around security guards that couldn't keep their own office from being invaded?

Looking over the labels on each of the drives, she stopped at one in particular, pressing the eject button. A small drawer opened with a soft whirl of gears, revealing a flat compact disc resting inside of it. The blonde quickly pulled the discs and replaced it with another from a nearby stack of blanks before closing the drawer again. Turning around again, she looked over to see Genma still sitting in his chair, motionless. A sad look had fallen across his face as he still looked up at the monitors, the toothpick in his mouth hanging down. Sakura and Kakashi were long gone from any of the screens, but he stared at them anyway. Ino watched him sympathetically, knowing how he must have felt because she felt the same way even if she said nothing. "We should probably be-"

Abruptly, an angry glare came over his eyes as he stood up, his chair rolling backwards and banging against the wall with a clatter. She jumped at the sound as he stalked past her, heading for the door. Ino followed him silently out into the hallway as he headed back towards the break room they had snuck into through the vents earlier. He was lucky that no one was out there to see them or else they would have looked awfully suspicious, especially from the amount of grumbling and shuffling he did. "Damnit . . . fucking damnit," he cursed with an angry kick of his feet on the tiled floor, "Just when it looks like they're finally getting over the denial, this shit happens. How can two people be so . . . I just don't get it . . . This is all Sakura's fault too."

He walked in a circle aimlessly, each grumble punctuated with a disgruntled kick. Looking down at the floor, Ino silently agreed, but unlike Genma, she actually understood the conflict going through her best friend to an extent. She was afraid, confused, and alone. Listening to the both of them, she wanted nothing more than to run up to Sakura and hug her until it all felt better . . . and then knock some sense into her. In spite of empathizing with her friend, she still thought she was being completely stupid. What exactly did the pink-haired woman expect from Kakashi to make things better? He said how he felt about her, wasn't that enough? If she had heard a confession like that from Shikamaru, it would have been more than enough.

Then again, that wasn't a good example. If he said anything about love to her, she might have fainted before he could finish another word. But, if Genma said anything like that . . . she didn't know what she'd do. The very thought it seemed impossible considering he was so, well, _him_. Ok, sure, she had slept with him, and it still bothered her to be around him, but he certainly didn't act romantic towards her, not the way Kakashi looked at Sakura. Ever since they had ended up in bed together, there had been a few odd moments, but that was just it. She didn't think like that about him at all, and for the most part, she assumed he felt the same . . . didn't he?

Ino shook her head to clear it. She was thinking too much, just like Sakura, and distracting herself from the problem at hand. What were they going to do now? "We can't just let them go on like this," the blonde said as Genma stopped pacing to face her, "We both know what'll happen if something doesn't happen to straighten them out."

"Yeah, the end of a beautiful friendship."

"Which is even worse than if they didn't fall in love at all . . . I almost liked it better when they acted like an asexual, old, married couple," Genma grumbled as he started pacing again, "They may have been boring, but they were somewhat happy, and together."

"And still in denial." Ino frowned at him, nodding in agreement. "This is our doing. We didn't start all this in order to break them up. There's got to be a way to turn this around, but . . . I don't have the slightest idea short of going up and pounding some sense into her."

The brown-haired shinobi stopped and looked at her, and then slowly the toothpick in his mouth rose up in the air as he grinned. The blonde blinked at him. "What?"

The grin he gave her turned into a serious look, "Do you remember what Tsunade-sama said about our mission?"

"That we couldn't tell them about the bet?"

He grinned brightly again. "Exactly."

Ino's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious. You actually think talking to them now will help?"

"You said it yourself, that you couldn't think of anything else short of beating her into a realization."

"But the mission-"

"As long as we don't mention the bet to either of them, or that we're here solely to hook them up, we're fine."

"I don't think this is exactly what Tsunade-sama had in mind . . ."

"What Tsunade doesn't know won't hurt so long as she wins her bet."

"I still don't like it. This wasn't what we were supposed to do. We were just supposed to watch and nudge, not give them emotional support."

"Yes, well, we should have realized this given how stubborn both of them are. It may make them determined in battle, but it's hell to get them to understand one another without logic.

"What am I supposed to tell Sakura then? I can't just go up to her and tell her that we've been spying on them. She'll kill me if she puts it together that we stopped the elevator on them."

"Just tell her as much of the truth as you can. Don't mention the bet and definitely don't mention the elevator, not if you want to keep your vital organs intact. I have enough to worry about with Kakashi. With the work your friend did on him, he's probably going to be three drinks ahead of me at least when I find him."

Ino frowned more. "Great, just great. I only wish Sakura was that predictable. She's probably halfway to Konohagakure right now. I don't know how I'm going to stop her let alone what I'll say to her when I do."

"It's the only shot we got left. You're Sakura's friend right? When we started this, you said you'd do anything to see her happy. Well, this is it. I am not going to fail either of them now."

He was right. As much as she hated admitting it, he was right. The time for games had passed. If they didn't do something now, there wouldn't be much of a relationship left to save. A determined look fell across Ino's face as she nodded towards Genma then started to walk past him. "Alright then . . . I'm going to need a whole lot of chocolate."

The brown-haired shinobi gave her a perplexed look as she disappeared through the break room door. "Chocolate? What the hell does chocolate have to do with anything?"

* * *

To be continued in Part 18 of Dirty Deeds, Sake and Chocolate.


	18. Sake and Chocolate

Dirty Deeds

A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna

Part 18 – Sake and Chocolate

Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!

Story Notes: Betaing by moderndayportia. See Part 1.

* * *

It took a while, but when Genma walked into the bar, he knew he had finally found Kakashi. The mop of silver, unruly hair was hard to miss. He hadn't seen hair like that in any of the other establishments he'd tried, and he had tried a lot. He had no idea what kind of path his friend had carved through the city of Snowfall, but it was some path to follow given the amount of aimless wandering he had to track to get to this bar in particular. The Copy-nin couldn't have picked a better bar though, which seemed odd considering his friend tended to hate places this clean and antiseptic. He was too used to drinking in the dives of Konoha to appreciate drinking in a place this refined.

The bar was a ways off from the crumbling sidewalks of the city in the richer side of town, not far from the many fancy homes perched high in the hills to overlook downtown. The establishment was nested in the basement of yet another business building, approachable only by a steep staircase from the outside and a heavy metal door with a discreet little sign on the frame. Steel and glass replaced the wooden and paper screen fixtures he was used to seeing in bars. An odd collection of multi-colored bottles filled the shelving behind the glass-covered bar, backlit with white lights that scattered the colors onto the dark stone walls. Nothing about the place seemed warm, comforting, or cheap to Genma as he walked over the grey concrete floor past matching metal and glass tables and empty stiff-backed chairs.

A few waitresses and cleaning staff milled about aimlessly, giving the atmosphere an ironically low hum for being nearly devoid of patrons. No doubt, come night fall, this place would be brimming with people. It was still too early in the day for serious drinking. No one was at the bar except for Kakashi and a bored looking barkeep standing a bit away and repetitively wiping down a clean glass. Approaching cautiously so as to not alert his friend to his presence just yet, Genma stopped about halfway across the room and angled away towards the far end of the bar. The bartender's attention was drawn to him as he slowly sat down in the last stool and looked intently over at his friend, but the man continued polishing the cup, not moving to serve the newcomer just yet.

Despite the mask on Kakashi's face, Genma could see the fixed frown pretty clearly; the droopy dark eye also steadily gazing down on the bar top he was leaning forward heavily upon, elbows and forearms bearing his weary weight. A half filled shot glass rested on the bar before him while a matching decanter patiently waited nearby. Both held a clear alcohol, which, knowing Kakashi's usual poison, had to be sake. If the Copy Nin knew he was there, he gave no indication, not even glancing over to acknowledge his new companion or even so much as twitching an eyebrow. Genma may as well have been a ghost. Then again, Kakashi seemed to like keeping company with his ghosts just fine.

A guttural sound made Genma flinch hard and look up to see the bartender staring down at him, a wrinkled frown on his face. The man looked tired, old, and humorless. He lacked the affectation of most of the bartenders Genma knew; their kind always seemed desperately happy to keep the patrons entertained and drinking. Given the grey streaks burning silver over his temples and the amount of wrinkles on his face, it was easy to assume this man had spent too long slinging drinks and had seen too much to care anymore. He continued frowning as he put a shot glass down in front of Genma, punctuated by the sharp clink of glass on glass, and cautioned a glance over at Kakashi before looking back warningly. "We're not that kind of bar, son," the man said, a very serious stare hardening the edges of his tired eyes.

It took most of Genma's self-control to keep from spluttering in the barkeep's face. "Wait! It's not like that!" he whispered firmly, still trying not to catch the silver-haired ninja's attention just yet, "I know the guy, ok?"

The suspicious look on the man's face transformed into a surprised blink as Genma continued. "He's my friend. I've been looking for him all day and tracked him into here."

Understanding filled the barkeep's old eyes and he curtly nodded. "I figured you two looked a little too strange to be some regular folk just stumbling onto a place like this. You both must be from out town since I would have known if you were from Hidden Mist. If any of my regulars show up tonight, I wouldn't go flashing anything that might tip them off on where you're from."

Genma slouched. Kakashi's choice of bar made sense. He just had to find in the one ninja bar in all of Snowfall. "I'll keep that in mind," he grumbled as he looked over at his friend, who hadn't moved an inch, "How long has he been like that?"

"Since he showed up," the bartender said, nodding in Kakashi's direction, "He ordered one bottle of a half decent sake, paid me, poured a shot, and hasn't moved since, not even to take a single sip. It's . . . odd. If he wasn't going to drink it, why the hell did he order it? It's like he just wanted to stare at his drink instead. Is this normal for him?"

Frowning, Genma nodded his understanding while biting down hard on the toothpick hanging from his mouth. "My friend is a bit . . . weird like that at time . . ."

The barkeep, well studied in human idiosyncrasy, saw right through his lie. "Sure . . ."

Grumbling under his breath, Genma reached around into his back pouch to pull out a wallet as he stood up. "It's a long story. We'll be out of here in a few minutes or else we'll ring up a sizable tab, ok?" he explained and pulled out a few wrinkled bills, setting them down on the counter, "Get me the same, but give me a few minutes to talk to him."

The bartender shook his head but didn't argue as he slipped the money off the bar top and walked away. Taking careful steps, Genma slid down along the row of stools closer to Kakashi. The silver-haired man didn't look up once, not until he had seated himself on the adjacent chair. He glanced over then looked straight ahead at the simple shelving filled with eclectic bottles. "Great, I've died and gone to hell," he grumbled, "I must be very drunk to be hallucinating about you of all people."

Genma smirked and pulled the toothpick from his lips before tossing it aside carelessly. "Nice to see you too, Kakashi."

The Copy nin did a double-take, his dark eye wide in shock. Did his hallucination just talk? He wasn't dreaming all this after all? Considering illusions didn't usually answer him back, it must be real. And the fact that Genma really was there sitting next to him and not hundreds of miles away in Konohagakure, made his eye narrow dangerously heavy with suspicion. It was too unlikely that his friend just happened to be in the same city, wasn't it? "What are you doing here?" he asked, cutting right to the point.

Crap. That had been the one question Genma didn't want to be asked right away. "Well, um . . ." he started to say before groaning a moment later, "Tsunade thought you might ask something like that . . ."

A silver eyebrow rose up in question. "Oh really?"

"I'm supposed to tell you that I'm here on another mission . . ."

The still evident frown underneath Kakashi's mask deepened. "She would do something like that. This mission is probably too lucrative to the village to hazard it failing, huh?"

Genma gave a nervous sounding chuckle, thankful fortune had provided him with the out he needed. "Yeah, something like that."

"How long have you been here?"

Genma frowned. "We only got into town a day ago after you two didn't report back with any progress."

"Who's we?"

"Another kunoichi, you wouldn't know her."

"How much did you see?"

"We saw enough to know you guys blew it today, but nothing more than that . . ."

"If you're trying to let me salvage my pride, don't," Kakashi griped, tempted to roll his eye, "What's one more blow going to do to it anyway?"

"Ok, we patched into the security system and watched you screw Sakura senseless in an elevator. It was the greatest sex I've ever seen that I haven't been a part of. The only downside was having to witness your pasty white ass doing it," he confessed bluntly, "Happy now?"

"Very," the Copy Nin's voice deadpanned.

"Damn, now I need a drink," Genma groaned with a fervent shake of his head. He glanced up just in time to see the bartender put a matching shot glass and decanter of sake in front of him before shuffling tiredly off again down the bar. After a long, silence heavy moment, he added, "We heard everything too . . ."

The revelation didn't seem to faze Kakashi at all, although he didn't say anything in response either. Frowning worriedly, Genma poured himself a drink and quickly downed it before refilling the glass. "I wanted to hit you, you know, knock some fucking sense into you at the time."

"And now?"

"You're too pitiful looking for it to now."

A broken snort of a chuckle came from Kakashi along with a briefly hidden smirk that quickly turned back into a frown. "It figures. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot. Hell, even I think I'm an idiot."

"No, you aren't. You're not an idiot. You're just mildly retarded. You've got like an emotional learning deficit or some crap like that."

"I let her walk away, Genma. I say all that powerful, meaningful stuff to her, and then I let her go. If that isn't the embodiment of stupidity, I don't know what is."

"What were you gonna do? Argue her into admitting her feelings?"

"Better than just letting her go," he reasoned as he shook his head, nearly torn in torment as the entire scene in the lobby before playing over in his head. It hadn't even seemed real at the time, but it had happened nonetheless.

He sighed in both resignation and hopelessness, "She is gone, everything of hers from the hotel room, gone. I don't even know where she is now. If Sakura made the ferry, she probably wouldn't stop until she was a quarter of the way home, if not more. If something happens, I won't even be there to-"

"To do what? Save her?" the brown-haired shinobi interrupted to question.

"It isn't like that . . ." Kakashi trailed off distantly, "She may feel nothing for me, but she's still my partner."

"Right, like you really need to protect Sakura of the Angry Fist," Genma said with a smirk, "Just admit that despite everything you still love her and miss her already? It'll save us both the time it'll take me to get you to open up about what I already know."

The Copy Nin cast an angry glare in his friend's direction as Genma took another drink, more slowly than his first. As much as he loathed admitting it, the piss-ant had a point… somewhat. Since Genma had already seen and heard the dramatic events in the elevator, trying to deny or excuse away how he felt was useless. Ok, so he did want to protect Sakura, maybe over-protect her a little. It didn't change the fact that she had left him. Kakashi frowned under his mask as he looked down at his own untouched glass, and then in the opposite direction and around the empty bar before saying, "It isn't denial if you worry about someone you care for. It doesn't matter what I feel anymore, or even how I treat her. She's gone and she isn't coming back except on her own."

"Exactly, and yet you're here sopping about it like a wet blanket."

A second angry glare was shot in Genma's direction. "I am not a wet blanket."

"Well, you're certainly being dramatic enough about this to qualify."

"I am not-" Kakashi started to yell before cutting himself off. Ok, so maybe he was being a touch dramatic, but he was nowhere near Sakura's level. He reached up to rip down his mask, letting the fabric fall around his neck and then grabbed the glass of sake, knocking back the shot quickly. The alcohol burned down his raw throat. Scowling, he slammed the glass down again and quickly grabbed the decanter to refill it. Genma smiled at him, which only made him more annoyed. "I am not being dramatic."

His friend's damned smile didn't lessen.

"I don't know exactly what you're expecting me to do," Kakashi spat, "Going after her won't help the situation, and sitting around sober would drive me insane . . . even if I don't exactly feel like drinking either."

"On the contrary, it's exactly what I expected of you," Genma said as he leaned over the bar, playfully propping his head up with his bent arm, "I don't expect you to do anything tonight but sit here and get wasted with me."

The Copy nin frowned. "Sounds like fun."

"Better than trying to figure out what exactly is going on in Pinkie's head."

"Don't call her that . . ."

"Pinkie? Geez, man, I've called her that for a while and now you're offended for her? What the hell happened to you?" Genma questioned with a bewildered look.

Kakashi groaned, burying the heels of his palms into both of his eyes, in spite of the eye patch he wore. "I honestly don't know anymore . . ." his gritty voice trailed off and he turned towards his friend wearing a serious look, "Have you ever felt as if everything you thought you've known suddenly gets turned upside down?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just follow me a moment. If you see a color, like black and always see it a certain shade of black for the majority of your adult life. You always paint things in that shade of black. And then something comes along that completely changes that black to something else? Suddenly, everything you painted before is maybe blue or magenta or something, everything seems brighter again. And then . . . you blink, the change you saw is gone, and everything has gone back to black again . . . Have you ever had anything like that happen to you?"

". . . No, I don't have the slightest idea what you mean."

Kakashi glared at him, not really believing him. Genma's smile slowly faded. A look fell heavily across his face that showed nothing but pained understanding.

"Yeah, I lied . . . I kind of do," he whispered, reaching out a slightly shaking hand to grasp his glass before bringing the cup to tense lips and finishing it off, "It's kind of like that, huh?"

Kakashi's dark eye narrowed on his friend again. For as long as he had known Genma, the older man had never shown anything akin to, well, understanding about anything he wasn't directly involved in. Well, Kakashi wasn't exactly ever empathetic either, but that was beside the point. The point was that somehow his friend had changed as well. Slowly, Kakashi's eye widened as he knew exactly what happened. He gave Genma a slightly knowing grin before turning back to his drink. "Who is she?"

The brown-haired man groaned, pouring more sake. "You wouldn't know her. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm in the same boat as you, that's why," Genma said with a shake of his head, "Only arguably worse maybe . . ."

"Why is that?"

"Because she thinks she's in love with someone else . . ."

Kakashi winced. "Ouch . . . you need to drink more than I do."

"Yeah, well, be relieved that no matter how much Sakura may fight it, she probably does love your sorry ass," he muttered as he picked up his cup to take another shot. He looked over to see Kakashi's droopy, dark eye giving him a sympathetic look. Just as he was about to indulge in another numbing gulp, Genma stopped suddenly, putting the glass back down on the bar.

"Crap. Utter crap and shit," he cursed harshly, "We're supposed to be bitter, jaded old shinobi but instead we're going soft over a pair of women way too young to be interested in a pair of warhorses like us. I can't believe this happened to either of us. It was much more fun when screwing around meant absolutely nothing to me but a good time followed by the inevitable disappointment."

"I liked it better when I was just a perverted, cynical bastard too, but there's no going back for either of us, you know," Kakashi said as he sipped lightly on his sake, "You must really care about this girl if you're as bent out of shape as me."

"Don't remind me . . ."

"Great legs?"

Genma cast a dark look in his direction that promised violence in a moment and the silver-haired ninja held up his gloved hands in surrender. "Don't look at me like that. I am just assuming you slept with her already or else you wouldn't be this hung up."

"You're one to talk, you know that? You fuck Sakura and then wait to declare your love until after you've gotten your rocks off. You were already pretty badly hung up on her before that, but actually getting into her has made you even worse. You're no better than me, just a lot more out of practice," he hissed as he reached for his drink again and downed the sake shot in one throat-searing gulp. Kakashi didn't say anything as he started to spin the glass in his hands, gazing at it in bitter contemplation.

After a long moment, he put the shot back down with a sigh and a frown. "She has the best legs I've ever had the privilege of having wrapped around my waist," Genma confessed, "And I still managed to fuck it up somehow."

A small smile crossed the Copy Nin's face. He reached across to pour them both another round of shots. "I imagine there's more to her than just that?"

"Is there more to Sakura than just her eyes?"

The smile faded as he put the decanter back down. Ok, so he kind of deserved that one. He gave Genma an apologetic look before turning back to his own drink. "I probably shouldn't have slept with her, should I?" Kakashi asked after a moment, "At least not until I knew how she felt, huh? It only seems to have made things worse in the long run."

"Doesn't matter too much if you think about it a moment. At least next time you talk to her, you won't be picturing what she may look like naked in that noggin of yours cause you've already seen it all."

"Doesn't mean I won't want her still."

"Welcome to the fucking club, man," Genma snorted resentfully, "We're both screwed in the figurative sense but probably never again in the literal sense if neither of them comes back to their senses. As much as I respect you as a friend, I cannot do the celibacy thing like you. I am not a damned monk."

"I never thought I'd be there the day you say one woman's ruined you for the rest," Kakashi joked, his dark eye creasing in sarcastic happiness enhanced by a stunted chuckle.

"You fucking son of a bitch," Genma laughed as well, a similar look on his face, "If you weren't my friend already, I'd kill you."

"The feeling is mutual," Kakashi said with a wider grin.

The senbon user followed suit, a smug grin crossing his face as well. "Yeah, well, after this many years, I thought your cock had rotted off or something. Too bad you're never gonna need it again either."

"Leave my penis out of this."

"Your penis is what got you so screwed up in the first place."

"Look who's talking."

". . ."

"You're the one that brought it up in the first place, again. I don't think the way this talk is going to help either of us get our women back."

". . . Shut up and drink, you ungrateful bastard," Genma said with a scowl as he quickly reached for his glass of sake, "I am too sober to have this type of conversion with you, so the faster we both get shit-faced, the better."

"No kidding," Kakashi said and grabbed his sake, raising it up in a quick salute. "Couldn't agree more."

He tossed his head back and took the entirety of the glass at once. His head snapped back forward determinedly and he winced at the fire burning down his throat as he somewhat unsteadily filled another glass. The brown-haired shinobi smirked and muttered, "We're going to need a lot more sake."

* * *

Sakura flopped over in the bed from her left side, staring straight up at the bright light overhead and the too white wall it was mounted on. For some reason, all of this felt oddly familiar except for the fact that the last time she did this type of laying about it had been with Naruto beside her in a large pile of leaves. The feelings nipping at her were the same, though, as the time before, a restless tension within that fluctuated between shades of uncertainty, loneliness, and nervousness. The only difference was that this time there was a profound sorrow coloring everything she felt.

After leaving Kakashi standing there in the lobby of the Mingawa building, she had fled. As fast as she could, she ran to get her things packed from their hotel suite. Duffle bag and new garment bag in hand, she retreated through the city to the docks and down to the ferry that would take her back to the mainland. The only thing she could think about all the way there was home, Konohagakure. She wanted to go home so badly, to what she believed was the sanctuary where she could hide away from the pain she felt, even if it meant being away from Kakashi. Despite the fact that she knew running wouldn't help, going home seemed perfectly logical at that time. She could barely wait to sleep in her own bed again

Yet, standing there waiting for the boat to come in to dock, her thoughts were anything but logical when they traitorously turned back towards the silver-haired man she had just abandoned. In all her haste, she hadn't thought one second about him, and yet . . .

Now she was thinking about him, and how deeply she felt the lack of his presence. Everything in the elevator really had happened after all? She really did just leave him standing there, didn't she? He really had said he loved her, hadn't he? Now that he was no longer with her, she did kind of . . . well, she missed him . . . a lot. He'd been right there beside her, a constant companion, for how many years again? Practically ever since she was twelve he'd been there, and now he wasn't anymore. Barely away from his side for an hour, it occurred to her how much she really missed her ex-sensei and partner.

And here she was, taking even more drastic steps, getting further away from him.

When the ferry docked, she didn't move to board. Her feet shifted indecisively forward, but then she took two steps back in indecision. Eventually, she put the sturdy duffle pack on the ground and sat on it while hugging her dress bag tightly in her arms. Could she really just leave him like this? Could she just run? If she did run, would she really be throwing away years of friendship and understanding? Could she do that? As appealing as running was in theory, when it came to actual execution . . .

She couldn't do that to him, could she?

Apparently not, as the last ferry left with her still sitting helplessly lost in her own thoughts on the dock. She had buried her head in the black bag and tried not to whine to herself. For all her sure talk back in lobby, she really was a coward without him around. The situation made her question her own independence, wondering if she even could do anything without him. Well, obviously she could if she had gotten this far to begin with, but it was painfully evident that she couldn't just leave him. That much was certain. It was a fact he must have known since he hadn't chased her all the way to the docks.

Sitting there for over an hour, she realized he really wasn't going to come after her. None of his dogs came trotting up to act as a furry emissary. Hell, no one else milling around the ferry dock even seemed to take notice of her. For once, Sakura was, well and truly, left all alone. After sitting and watching the sun sink under the watery horizon, she eventually got up, and wandered back into the city, the evening's snowfall rolling in behind her off the frigid sea. Finding a much cheaper hotel, she got a room for the night.

The major problem with all this was that now she didn't know what to do with her solitary self and the thoughts circling around her head like dirty bath water around a drain. Groaning, she rolled over again and clutched her head. She should have run while she had the chance, looking back on it. Confronting this problem in the crowded theatre of her mind only made things worse.

The more she laid there, the more her thoughts drifted back to Kakashi and the whole messy argument. It didn't seem real. The entire situation had happened in such a surreal manner. Even replaying him saying those three little words over again in her head didn't make it seem any more believable. He couldn't really mean it. There was no way he could have meant it. She wasn't being selfish or stupid, was she? A relationship between them based on love would never work. They knew too much about each other. They could get under each other's skin too easily. They cared about each other too much for it to work. A few choice works and they could hurt one another much worse than any weapon or jutsu ever could. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

Growling, Sakura flung herself onto her stomach. How could they remain a partnership if being around each other drove them both this crazy? If he hadn't said anything then the sex could have been just a really good one time thing. Maybe friends with benefits would have worked for them, a release valve from the pressure of mutual attraction and sexual tension. But, he had to bring up love. He just had to be in love with her and ruin everything . . .

The sex was really good though, Inner Sakura inserted, not that great sex ever really solved anything.

"Great, now I'm talking to myself again," she muttered into a pillow, burying her naughtier half once again.

With a groan, she propped herself up and looked around the spartan room. The walls were white, and none of the furniture matched, unlike the suite she had been sleeping in. The bathroom was horrible when she had taken a shower earlier, leaving her clothes scattered across the tiled floor as she hastily stripped. Coming out dripping and only semi-clean, she was pretty sure her bare feet nearly stuck to the nasty carpeting when she walked across it. For as little as she paid for the night though, at least the bed was comfortable and the heating system worked exceptionally well.

Her luggage was thrown over a chair in one corner, having been abandoned there once she pulled out an old navy blue uniform shirt and some long, baggy pants of stretchy grey knit to sleep in. The duffle sat on top of the garment bag with her travel cloak on top of it all. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to put her things like that. No doubt that fabulous evening gown she had worn would be crushed under the weight of it all. Why should she care about a stupid dress though? It wasn't like she would ever get a chance to wear it again. None of the clothes she had accumulated for the sake of their mission would ever see the light of day again back in Konoha. It wasn't like Kakashi would ever see her all dressed up again either.

What had he said that night? That no one would be looking at him with her standing next to him? That she was beautiful. A small smile crept across the kunoichi's face at the memory. Everything was so much easier that night; she could joke with him, be close to him, and accept compliments without thinking twice about it. The teasing, the banter, the knowing glances, the easiness with which they seemed to understand each other, the trust, they had been practically perfect together. The smile on Sakura's face faded fast. She knew none of that was ever coming back now, no matter how much she longed for it.

Still, he had called her beautiful for at least one night.

Rising up to kneel on the bed, she sprung off the mattress a moment later and onto her feet. Walking over the tacky carpet, she stopped at the chair and tugged the garment bag out from the bottom of the pile. With it in hand, she moved to the small closet set into the wall beside the bed, and started hanging up her clothes. She pulled out the black and nude evening gown last, holding it up to the harsh white light for a long moment before placing it on the rack as well. Her fingers drifted down over the silk and crystal bodice to the organza skirt, lifting it up.

A moment later, she let the delicate, sheer material slip through her fingers and float back down as she fell back on the bed again. Sakura frowned at the gown while tapping her foot on the floor, hunched over with her elbows on her knees to prop up her chin. What exactly had Kakashi seen in her that she hadn't already seen herself? He was a fool. They both were, more than likely. Sakura buried her face in her hands. Even if he was a fool too, she was the fool who missed him.

Her stomach chose that moment to gurgle loudly, reminding her that she had hardly eaten all day. The kunoichi sighed and whined, not feeling up to getting food at the moment, except for maybe chocolate. Inner Sakura agreed, reminding her of the binge she went on the last time she was this miserable. The parade of chocolate goodness Ino had supplied her with the night after her break-up with Lee had been monumental, and it felt so satisfying going down too. Pig's company in heartache after Shikamaru's latest act of ongoing callousness had helped too, but the food really made the night. It would be just her luck that Ino and her secret stash of comforting sweets were hundreds of miles away back in Konoha.

Maybe she could order room service, Sakura mused for a moment before reminding herself how much of a flea trap of a hotel she was in.

Sighing to herself, she stopped tapped her foot and flopped back onto the pillows, sprawled out dramatically. "This really-"

A knock on the door interrupted her statement.

Sakura blinked at the locked door. She wasn't expecting anyone. Even with Pakkun and the rest of the pack, Kakashi couldn't have tracked this far, not over the snow and certainly not in the middle of the storm going on outside. He was the only person she knew of that could possibly be looking for her, which meant this couldn't be a social call.

Cautiously, she reached for the kunai hidden purposefully under her pillow as the knocking on the door sounded again. As cliché as it sounded, sleeping with one's weapons did have its advantages at times. She pushed a lock of wet hair that hadn't made it into her long braid and away from hanging over her eyes. "Who is it?"

"Open the damned door already before this melts all over the hallway!" a very familiar female voice shouted at her. Sakura's jaw dropped as she let the kunai go. No, it couldn't be . . .

Practically running across the floor, she opened the door to see an all too familiar head of long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail with two striking aqua eyes staring back. She had to be dreaming, right? Yet, the smirk on that face and that arrogant stare were pretty telling. This wasn't all in her head. "Ino?!" the kunoichi shouted at her best friend as she tried to glance around her, "What the hell are-?"

Sakura stopped as her green eyes fell on the stuffed grocery bag Ino held cocked on her hip. Out of the top, she could see a green and white stripped carton with a picture of something dark and chocolaty on the lid. "Is that double fudge ripple ice cream?" She asked, trying not to drool.

"Actually, it's triple chocolate chunk, but-"

Before Ino could even finish her sentence, the pink-haired kunoichi grabbed the bag from her and carried it into the room. She blinked at being left standing alone in the hallway as her friend began rummaging through the food. "Nice to see you too, Forehead. Why, thank you for letting me in. It's so kind of you. Why thank you for taking my coat too, it's so considerate of you seeing as you're already eating the food I brought along too," the blonde groused sarcastically as she peeled off her heavy fur-trimmed coat while closing the door behind her and entering the shabby room.

Sakura looked up at her with those wide green eyes, a plastic spoon hanging from her mouth. The small box the utensils came in laid ripped apart on the cheap table she sat at while the carton of rich, chocolate ice cream sat in her lap. Somehow, Ino didn't look too surprised as she threw her coat on the bed before walking over. At least Sakura appreciated the gift of food. The blonde practically fell into the chair across from her friend, exhausted. "You owe me some money for all this, you know," she said with a frown before she reached down to pull off the snow boots she wore, "And a new pair of shoes."

The pink-haired young woman tried not to grin as she plucked the spoon from her mouth, "It's good to see you too, Pig . . . your timing is impeccable since I was just thinking about you . . . kind of a creepy sort of impeccable."

"It's a long story."

"I got a few long stories myself . . ." Sakura said with her own frown, jabbing the utensil into the chocolate ice cream. "How did you know I wanted ice cream?"

"Yes, about that . . ." Ino started to say with a torn look on her face, "Well, you see . . ."

"I think I know that look. What did Tsunade-shishou put you up to this time?" she asked, skipping the pretense and going right to the point, "I swear if she intends to interfere in my love life or lack there of one more time-"

"It isn't like that, Sakura. I came on my own," Ino lied, sort of. Well, it was at least partially true, wasn't it? "Me and someone else I recruited to help. Tsunade-sama doesn't know we left the village, exactly."

Gawking at her best friend, Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you nuts?! They could declare you missing-nin because of this! If you came all this way because of me, I'll wring your neck!"

"Relax, Forehead. I told Tsunade-sama it was a training mission, urban surveillance tactics or something. She knows we're gone, just doesn't know the real reason why . . ."

"Oh . . . oh," Sakura said as it sunk into her exactly how and why Ino was sitting in front of her at that very moment, "So, you're here to mess with my love life, or the lack there of, then too, huh?"

A pitiful yet sympathetic look fell over the blonde's face before she silently nodded. Groaning, the pink-haired kunoichi scooped up a big spoonful of ice cream and shoveled it into her mouth. She ate even more, and blushed as she realized that if she was here at that moment, that she had to have seen the drama in the lobby at least. Knowing Ino's surveillance techniques, she probably saw the one in the elevator too. "Great, you probably know everything already," she whined over the chocolate, nearly beet red in mortification "You wouldn't have brought me ice cream if you didn't already know about me and Kakashi."

Ino tried not to grin, "Everyone's known about it for years. It just took you both this long to catch up."

She gulped hard, and nearly turned purple as it occurred to her that Ino brought someone with her on her mission who had probably seen everything too. ". . . You didn't bring Naruto along, did you?"

"No."

"Sasuke?"

"No, you don't know him that well, but he has a vested interest in Kakashi's happiness," Ino said as she reached into the grocery bag to pull out a second carton of chocolate ice cream. Grabbing one of the plastic spoons, she then took the top off and threw it aside before digging in as well. Sakura stopped eating momentarily to watch the blonde begin fiercely shoveling down the creamy chocolate goodness. A sinking feeling overcame the pink-haired kunoichi. "It isn't Shikamaru, is it?" she asked tentatively.

Ino stopped eating, realizing how much ice cream she had put away in such a short amount of time. No, for once it wasn't Shikamaru that was getting to her. "It's Genma," she admitted in a terribly small voice.

Sakura blinked at her. "Genma? Shiranui Genma is who you're working with? Why on earth would you pick him?"

"He knows Kakashi almost as well as you do . . . along with other areas of expertise," she said while twirling her spoon, "He's not that bad, honestly. Sort of a nice guy once he stops trying to flirt and tease his way into your panties."

She took a big bite as Sakura continued to stare at her. "What?"

"Didn't you sleep with him?"

"You can't ask me that."

"Oh come on, Pig. If this isn't about Shikamaru yet again, then this is obviously about that lecherous snake. You're a virgin, which makes you way too tempting to a guy like him. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't be packing down the ice cream like this unless something happened, so what happened?"

"That's rich of you. You slept with Kakashi, and here you are pigging out too, instead of being with him right now."

"But he hasn't been rumored to have slept with half of the Leaf's kunoichi."

"It's just a rumor, Forehead. Even I know that can't possibly be true. He isn't a lecherous snake, so don't you dare call Genma that. I told you already that he's a nice guy, and he is. I was wrong about him, completely wrong, ok? Even I can admit that I made a mistake about him."

Sakura blinked again. This was not the Ino she remembered. The one she knew wouldn't have defended Genma's reputation this much. Hell, up until this conversation, the blonde had herself helped in perpetuating every gloriously risqué tale of his escapades that funneled through her family's flower shop. Either the womanizing shinobi had completely changed personalities since she last encountered him . . . or her best friend had. And Ino wasn't that easy of a woman to change. "You don't like him, do you?" she asked hesitantly, "I mean I wouldn't blame you if you did, but . . . this is Genma you're talking about."

"No, I don't like him like that, Forehead, so can you just let it go?" Ino pleaded with her. Sakura fell silent and the blonde went back to shoveling the ice cream into her mouth without much pause.

Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to believe that. Either she was lying to cover up the fact that she had slept with Genma and liked him but wouldn't admit to it, or she really did like him but was lying to herself about it. Either way though, Ino liked him in a sense that wasn't purely friendship, and wasn't willing to talk about it, at the moment at least. The more Sakura continued to stare, the more Ino ate until she finally put the spoon down with an aggravated sigh. "Ok, I did sleep with him," she confessed with a grumpy pout, "Happy now?"

Apparently she wasn't as the staring went on with continued silence.

"I wanted to know what it was like, ok? I figured Genma was experienced enough that it would be a good first time, that it was time I grew up. You know, sort of like you," Ino said as she met Sakura's stare, "And stop looking at me like that."

Yup, Ino was lying to herself and didn't even realize that she was in love. If she stopped and thought about it for a moment, it probably would have seemed pretty ironic given her own situation with Kakashi. Good thing she didn't take that second to think about it then. Sakura turned back to her own ice cream. "Was he any good?" she asked as she lifted another spoonful to her mouth, "I mean, he's got to be good, right?"

The blonde chuckled, nearly snorting ice cream up her nose. "He was actually a bit overrated given all the stories floating around."

Sakura winced. "I hope you bought more ice cream."

"Actually, there are dark chocolate truffles in there."

"Oh, really?" she sang, immediately hopping up from her chair and rooting through the bag again, "Oh, you got peanut butter too! And whipped cream! Oh, Ino, I love you! I so don't deserve you!"

The blonde smirked. "You can pay me back later."

". . . We're going to be having some long discussion into the night, aren't we?"

"You didn't think I'll just let you sleep with Kakashi twice and not want to hear all about it, did you?"

"You saw all that too?" Sakura asked as a slight blush spread across her cheeks. Her friend nodded as her color deepened. She would never live this down. "Of course, you would see all that too. Look, the first time was just oral sex, that doesn't count."

Ino snorted another pig-like chuckle. "Sure it doesn't, doesn't mean I don't want to hear about it anyway."

Sakura whined through another downed spoonful of ice cream. "You know, I never ask you about Shikamaru, and I'm not going to ask you about Genma either unless you want to tell me. As much as I appreciate you being here for me, can you please just not interfere with this, Pig? I don't want to talk about it right now, please? Pretty please?"

"Why not, Sakura? You don't even know how you feel about the guy, do you?"

". . ."

"Then why not?"

". . . Because it's Kakashi, that's why," Sakura tried to explain as she reached for one of the jars of peanut butter as well as a can of instant whipped cream. Pulling it open, she scooped a heap of the peanut butter into her carton of ice cream then mixed it in. She then ate some of nutty chocolate dairy concoction before squirting a shot of whipped cream straight into her mouth. Ino shook her head before reaching into the grocery bag and pulling out a second set of the same items. She did the same thing after a moment, only shooting a more significant amount of cream that nearly overflowed from her mouth. Murmuring, she swallowed it down. After a few silent minutes of eating, Sakura finally said, "Just let me get some more chocolate into me first then maybe I'll submit to a grilling. If you really wanted to get me to talk, you should have gotten me drunk."

"But you're just as bad when you're hyped up on sugar and caffeine."

"That is so true . . ." Sakura sighed, eating more, "I really don't deserve you."

"Just shut up and eat," Ino muttered grumpily, "I'll take it out on you soon enough."

The pink-haired troublemaker giggled like a manic pixie, giddy and malicious at the same time and kept stuffing her mouth. "After today, I don't think there's anything you could possibly ask me that'll make me feel any worse than I did already."

"Yeah, well, keep talking. I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually."

* * *

"I mean, why am I even trying?" Genma asked, waving his glass of sake around as he leaned heavily over the bar. "I already had my chance, and failed. Ok, so I didn't give her exactly what she wanted, but she didn't give me a second chance to make it up to her . . . at least the foreplay was great. Still, what does that guy got that I don't got, and better? What makes him so great? He doesn't even know she exists, and yet . . . she loves him over me. Why do women have to be so . . . fickle?"

Kakashi chuckled, grinning to himself. They had to have been drinking non-stop for two hours now, maybe more. In that amount of time, more people had drifted into the bar in various modes of fashion, from the rather ordinary to the downright scary, even by shinobi standards. A few of the patrons stopped to look at the pair, also with varying degrees of interest, from amusement to downright open hostility, not that either of the two Leaf ninja's noticed. "They're not fickle, they're ebil."

"Ebil? Don't you mean evil?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant. Did I really say ebil?"

Genma chuckled himself and nodded. "You must really be drunk."

"Speak for yourself. You're the one that keeps pouring for the both of us," Kakashi accused with a pointed finger that waved too much to really be pointed, "I meant what I said though, they're evil."

"How do you figure?"

"Because if everything isn't perfect, they dump you. Seeking perfection is ebil."

"Kakashi."

"Evil, damnit," he grumbled angrily while pushing the sake across the bar top away from him, "Nothing's ever perfect, let alone relationships. No matter how hard you try to be perfect, it isn't gonna happen. And women still hate you if you don't fit into that perfect little mold of what they want. Perfect, perfect, perfect."

"But you have to admit, your friendship with Sakura was damned near a perfect relationship," Genma pointed out as he moved his friend's drink back in front of him, "Like you two were already married, except without the sex."

"Yeah, and then look what happened."

"Sex does seem to change everything, huh?" he admitted with a frown, "I don't think women are evil, just as selfish as the rest of us. They don't want perfection, but they do want that little image in their heads of what they think love is. Who wouldn't? I mean, you know me, Kakashi. I wasn't the type for love either, just sex, and then . . . I don't know anymore. All I know is I want her, badly, and more than just her body, but I'm never gonna get any part of her ever again. You should feel grateful that for a least a few years you had all of Sakura to yourself, even if you didn't sleep with her."

"It isn't enough, Genma," he replied with a sad shrug of his shoulders, "At least not for me anymore. I could try to go back to just being friends with her, but it's not going to be enough. Even those few years aren't enough. I think I've surpassed mere love to the point where she's become a part of me and I didn't even know it. Maybe I've been in love with her for years and didn't even know it . . . you're right, sex does change everything, maybe."

The more he thought about it, the more the idea felt right. Sakura had become a part of his existence, as much as any other part of his body. She had been that way to him for years already. Maybe he really had loved her in his own way for as long as they'd been partners.

And he didn't even realize it until she was gone.

"I think realizing it isn't just lust you're feeling probably did it too. Or trying to deny it," Genma said as he patted Kakashi on the back, "Like I've been saying, everyone in Konoha could see how you felt about each other, except for the two of you of course. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it would only be a matter of time . . ."

"Then I guess Sakura just doesn't love me enough."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true, isn't it?" Kakashi questioned as he picked up his sake, nearly spilling it, "If Sakura did love me, she wouldn't have reacted like that. If she really did, I would be back in our hotel room with her making sure she didn't leave bed for a week instead of pissing away the night here with you, like your company is some sort of consolation prize."

"Well, gee, I'm really flattered." Genma groused before knocking back his own drink, "You're missing the point though."

"What exactly is the point then?"

"That unlike my situation, you only have to overcome Sakura's stubbornness."

Kakashi snorted a chuckle as he took a drink, nearly getting sake up his nose. He couldn't be serious, could he? Yet, a sideways glance at the brown-haired shinobi to see the focused stare on his face told him that his friend was, in fact, very serious. "You're underestimating that woman's propensity to be . . . stubborn, as you put it."

Genma chuckled as well, breaking the serious look he had. "You know that's all there is to it though. She's just fighting because she thinks it's for the best for both of you. She cares more about you than you care about yourself. She already admitted that she'd die for you. She obviously wants you in the physical sense of the word. She loves you, but won't admit it to herself because of her past, your past, and out of consideration for your futures together. You know that's what she's thinking, the greater good and all that."

Bullshit. Breaking his heart couldn't be for the greatness of anything good, least of all his side of good. Maybe if Sakura had realized that, she wouldn't have pushed him away. "It isn't exactly for the greater good if it makes us miserable."

"Exactly."

"Even if I know all this, if she knows all this, she still isn't coming back," Kakashi pointed out as he put the glass down only to watch as Genma refilled it with more sake.

"You never know. Maybe she'll change her mind. Maybe she'll end up back in your bed in the middle of the night, or something," the brown-haired shinobi said with a shrug as his friend chuckled derisively, "Like I said, women are fickle."

"Fickle. What kind of word is that? Fickle," Kakashi repeated, making a scrunched face as he said the word while lifting his sake cup again to his uncovered lips, "I think you mean indecisib."

"Indecisive."

"Fuck . . . what did I say?"

Genma chuckled before calling out across the bar, "Hey! Bartender! More sake!"

* * *

Sakura moaned in pleasure as she bit into the dark, silk chocolate, the rich taste coating her pallet. She then sighed dramatically while chewing on the tender morsel of sweetness, rolling it around in her mouth before taking her time swallowing. Dark chocolate truffles were definitely more of a girl's best friend to her than diamond ever would be. While they didn't make you feel pretty, they certainly did make you feel a whole lot better. She squirted another mouthful of whipped cream as a chaser, leaving just a hint of lingering aftertaste in the chocolate's wake. Eyelashes fluttering in bliss, she contentedly laid back down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as every troubled thought she had left her head.

"You know, lying there and not talking to me while you stuff your face isn't going to make any of your problems go away," Ino said from across the room.

Suddenly all of those troubling thoughts came crashing back down again. Ino really did know how to make her feel a _whole _lot better. Propping herself up on her elbows, she shot the blonde a mean look before sitting up all the way on the bed. Climbing to her knees, she reached out and snagged the half-eaten carton of ice cream on the table then sat back down. Legs folded, she twirled the spoon in the half-melted chocolate chunk and peanut butter mess before taking another bite while silently cursing Ino in her head. "It may not fix anything, but it certainly makes me feel better," Sakura shot as she took another bite.

For her part, the blonde kept eating as well, trying to bury the bitter sting that Sakura's questions and comments about Genma brought to the surface. Her spoon stabbed into the carton. "You're not the only one with problems, Forehead. You're not the one that lost your virginity to Shiranui Genma of all people. You're not the one still hung up on a guy after years and years of trying . . . oh, wait, you are."

An evil smirk crossed Ino's lips as Sakura's green eyes bore into her. "Ok, so I am hung up over Kakashi to an extent."

"To an extent?" she said in disbelief, "Look at us, sitting here like two miserable old biddies wallowing in chocolate."

"You're the one that bought it all."

"I know, which only makes me feel even more pathetic than I am already."

Sakura sighed, taking the carton of ice cream from her lap and moving it off to the side. "How do you think I feel?" she asked, not really expecting an answer, she slouched over while resting her elbows on her bent knees.

"I think you don't know how to feel. You did just have a guy give the three words every woman wants to hear, so it doesn't surprise me at all that you panicked."

The pink-haired kunoichi flinched. "I did panic, didn't I?"

Ino tried not to grin. "Yeah, you kind of did."

"I don't think it's just that, Pig. I mean, it wasn't just three words, it was three words from Kakashi."

"And how is that different, huh? Given your previous relationship with him, I imagine it would have been better than good that it was him saying that."

"But I don't think of him like that! I really don't want to! I mean, he's Kakashi!" Sakura yelled, arms gesticulating about frantically as she stared wildly at her friend, "You don't understand, really, not unless it happened to you too. It would be like Choji telling you he loves you, point blank. Do you understand how weird that would be?"

Ino tried not to growl, frustrated at her friend's persistent reasoning, "First, Choji is not Kakashi-"

"Well yeah."

"-so it isn't exactly a fair example to use. Second, even if you swear up and down that you don't like him like that, part of you does."

The pink-haired kunoichi's mouth dropped open to protest, but Ino cut her off again. "If you didn't want him at all, you wouldn't have slept with him, Forehead. You weren't exactly resisting him that much."

Sakura's mouth kept on moving even if she was left speechless. While the blonde had something of a point, she'd be damned to admit it. It wasn't as simple as Ino thought it was. It just couldn't be. This entire situation wasn't just her fault . . . was it? With a aggravated growl, she tugged at her damp bangs. "You don't understand. I-," she tried to explain before being cut off again.

"What, you care about him?"

"Well, yeah."

"Tell me something I don't know already, really. You care about Kakashi, a lot, more than any one person deserves. You already admitted you'd die for him, which isn't some flippant thing to say."

Hearing that assertion aloud seemed to take some of the fight out of Sakura and she seemed to almost sink into the bed. Her arms folded over her waist to hug herself as she looked away from Ino. So what if she did care about him too much? What did it matter? She cared about a lot of people more than she should have. Naruto for one, and Sasuke, and they were both already married. Then there was Lee and Ino herself as well. So what if Kakashi was included in that lot too? She already knew what she was trying to argue, and it wasn't going to work. "Just because I care that much about him doesn't mean-"

"No, it may not mean that you love him, but you sure won't sleep with anyone else you care that much about, right?"

A deep crimson blush spread across Sakura's cheeks. "That isn't fair."

"Would you just admit already that you're physically attracted to him? If I was you for just a minute, I'd be all over him too. I mean, have you seen the ass on that man?"

The blush went from red to nearly purple splotched with maroon. "Would you stop?! I don't want to hear about Kakashi's ass right not!" Sakura yelled, hunching into a ball as her arms covered her ears.

Ino couldn't help but laugh at the picture she made, drowning out the noise with a few more spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream. "I know you well enough Forehead to know that even if you don't want to hear about his butt, it's what you're thinking about right now anyway. Right now, you're probably thinking about a whole lot more of his anatomy than just that," the blonde reasoned as she fiddled with the carton, "I mean, unlike Genma, that man comes through on all of your encounters with him. I mean, he got you off how many times now? Orgasms don't grow on trees, you know. A lesser woman than you would have crawled back to him by now for that at least."

"This is kind of wrong coming from you since I bet up until a few days ago you wouldn't have known a damned thing about climaxes even if one hit you in the middle of Konoha."

"Neither did you, technically."

"Can we just leave sex out of this for a minute?" Sakura pleaded, finally looking up while she hugged her bent knees, "Just because I care about him doesn't mean I love him. Just because I slept with him, twice, doesn't mean I love him. Sex, no matter how good, is irrelevant if a relationship with Kakashi isn't going to work out anyway."

"You only think a relationship isn't going to work because you're too hung up on him because you know him so well. In any other situation, this wouldn't be a problem. You've been hurt before as well, which doesn't make it any easier, but because Kakashi is so familiar, everything about this time is different from before."

"Exactly!" the pink-haired young woman crowed in triumph, before it occurred to her that she had no idea what Ino really meant, ". . . I think."

The blonde groaned, almost throwing her carton of ice cream onto the table in frustration. "Thinking is what you're problem is, Forehead. You think too damned much. Thinking is what got you into this mess in the first place. I'm not even half as smart as you, and I know pretty well what you should be feeling. You're like the dumbest smart person I know."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence there, Pig. How the hell am I supposed to stop thinking?"

"It's not so much stop thinking but stop over-analyzing this. Stop trying to be reasonable. Stop trying to apply logic to this, because there is none. This is about how you feel about Kakashi, nothing else."

"But-"

"No, no buts about it. You're using the wrong organ, Sakura, so shut off that head of yours for a minute."

It wasn't as easy as Ino made it sound. Every time she did think about Kakashi and her feelings in the same moment, it made her chest ache like someone was sitting on her. She wanted to panic, and cry, and pound her fist into the wall rather than try to understand this feeling. Maybe it just scared her. Maybe she just didn't want to know anymore, even if it meant the end of her relationship with him. There had to be something better than this, something that wouldn't make her feel like she was falling apart, with or without him.

Sitting there in silence, she hugged her knees tighter. Every now and there, her green eyes peeked upwards at Ino, who sat in her chair serenely waiting for her to say something. "This isn't that easy . . ."

"You shouldn't have to think about love, Sakura, you should just know."

"Maybe I'm just defective."

"Maybe you're just too deep in denial."

"How can I be in denial when I don't even know what I'm feeling?" she argued with a depressed sigh, "So maybe I care about him. So maybe I do want him. So maybe I do need him in my life, but . . ."

"Maybe you just don't want to compromise? Maybe you think you'd be compromising when in fact you'd be getting everything you've ever dreamed of," Ino offered, gesturing with one hand as Sakura gave her a bewildered look, "You've been hurt before, right? We both know that. Maybe instead of being the bitter, jaded cynic you think you've become, you actually do believe in true love still. Maybe you believe in it so much that you don't even know when it comes up to you and bites you in the ass. Maybe if Kakashi had just said it a few more times you would have realized it and it would have finally sunk in."

". . . You're so full of shit."

"Or maybe you've really loved him for all these years and it just hasn't occurred to you yet that I'm right."

". . . You're still full of shit."

"But I've got a point, don't I?" the blonde asked, not expecting a response as she shrugged her shoulders and reached for the ice cream again. Ignoring her pink-haired friend for the moment, she went back to eating.

Sakura stared at her in disbelief. No, Ino, could not be right, not with how little sense she made. Yeah, sure, love wasn't about compromising, at least not the way she believed in it, but she hadn't really put much faith in romantic love to begin with, not since her relationship with Lee fell through. She'd settled her peace with that emotion a long time ago . . . or at least she thought she did. How could what she felt for Kakashi be love if she was entirely determined to never feel something like that again? This couldn't just be a spontaneous reaction to an already unbelievably complicated situation; therefore it couldn't be love . . . could it? Was she really that deep in denial?

This was Kakashi she was thinking about, after all. Grumpy, stubborn, cynical, bitter, caustic, old veteran of a ninja, he'd been there, he's seen it all. He was cold, calculating, methodical, down right obsessive compulsive at times, and definitely over-protective of her, and not in a good way. Sure, he was funny too, and very good at what he did. He was smart, quick, knew what just to say to make her feel better, and knew when to leave her alone. He was always there when she needed him the most and she never had to ask him for it. He made her feel safe, and wanted, and desired. His handsomeness was a side benefit, but when he smiled at her . . .

Her hand reached out for another dark chocolate truffle from the candy box they rested in on reflex. She popped it into her mouth whole then chewed quickly before the slight quiver in her stomach at the thought of Kakashi's smile got any worse.

Come on, this was Kakashi she was thinking about of all people. He was . . . well, himself. He was far from perfect, not that she was any better. He wasn't the type to just fall in love with anyone either, which was what made it seem all the more ridiculous to her. The only thing possibly more ridiculous was the notion that she could be in love with him in return . . . maybe. She couldn't just suddenly be in love with him like he was with her, could she?

What if she already did love him all along like Ino had said?

What if she really did love Kakashi?

The pressure that had been sitting on her chest let up a little. Despite how much she wanted to deny it, she still remembered what it was like to be in love with Naruto and Lee before actually admitting her feelings. As much as she never wished to feel that much heartache again when it was over, she still couldn't give up on love completely, could she? As much as she wished those stupid childhood fantasies of hers could just stay dead and buried, some things are immortal.

She still did want to be in love, and she hated it. She just wasn't sure if she wanted to be in love with Kakashi.

Still curled up with her face pressed against her legs, Sakura blocked out the sight of the blonde across from her lazily licking her ice cream spoon while no doubt grinning to herself like a pleased cat. Abruptly, the strawberry-locked kunoichi scooted around in the bed, staring at the headboard instead. As much as Ino was her friend, right now she wished she wasn't there so she could think without her obvious influence. She could hear the other woman stop eating behind her, aqua eyes boring into her back. "Sakura-"

"Just be quiet a moment, Pig, please? I know you said not to think, but right now I need you to be quiet so I can."

The blonde didn't say anything, but she didn't hear her friend move either.

Exhaling softly a moment, she tried to relax despite still being curled up in a tight ball, but couldn't get that far. She felt tense with anxiety, and the pressure on her chest felt worse than ever. Even her heart began to hurt. For just a moment, she wished Kakashi was there for her instead of Ino, just like she wished he had chased after her to the ferry docks. She really missed him, at that moment, more than ever. Even if Ino was there with her, she never felt more alone. She was a good friend, but she wasn't him. There was no way she could deal with something like this without him, which only made his absence all the more acute. No one else could be him.

No one else would probably ever mean as much to her as Kakashi did.

The pain that had been stabbing at her heart turned into a severe ache. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she tried not to sniffle.

Ino was right after all. She did love Kakashi.

He was right before her all along and she never knew it enough to appreciate it. Maybe they always had loved each other, but just didn't know. No matter what happened to them, they were always together, inseparable . . . except until now.

Now that she knew, she also knew it was too late.

A heavy, silent tear rolled down Sakura's cheek. She was unable to keep from sniffling anymore. Kakashi wasn't the fool, she was. Her pride, her selfishness, her stubbornness, her denial of the truth, all of it had ruined it. She had ruined it for them both.

A torrent of emotions flooded Sakura's mind as she let go and cried: guilt, regret, fear, sadness, shame. This was all her fault. She had been too focused on herself that she had ignored everything he had been trying to tell her. She even ignored what she had been telling herself. She should have known, she should have known long before this. She should have realized how she felt sooner, but like a fool, she wallowed herself in denial and ignorance. For the third time in a row, her heart was broken, but this time she had no one to blame but herself.

Why couldn't she just have accepted him? Why did she have to try to fight it? How could she have been so cold to him? He couldn't still love her, not after what she did to him. She had been horrible to him when she already didn't deserve him. How could he accept her back now? Would he even want her back? How could Kakashi possibly forgive her if she couldn't even forgive herself? She couldn't fix this now, could she? Was a second chance at a first go round too much to ask for?

What did it really matter now anyway?

The tears fell so fast and stung so much that she didn't even hear Ino move over the sound of her crying. It wasn't until she felt the blonde's arms wrap around her that she even noticed her presence. "Sakura-"

For a moment, she attempted to fight her fellow kunoichi off, knocking over chocolates and ice cream in the process. And then, suddenly, she stopped, giving in and sinking into the embrace. Ino's arms tightened around her, holding her best friend in silence as she cried her heart out.

She knew it was going to be a hard realization for Sakura to come to, but she never imagined that it would have been this hard. She felt helpless to do anymore except just to be there along with a touch responsible. A seed of doubt entered her mind. This was for the best, wasn't it? Someone needed to point out Sakura's own self-destruction to her before it was too late, but was it already too late?

She wasn't a fool. She knew Kakashi meant the world to Sakura. Yet, if Genma failed where she succeeded in opening her friend's eyes, would everything still be alright for them? Should she tell her that everything would be ok, to try to comfort her in some way, to help her get by. But she didn't want to lie to her either.

If this had happened weeks ago, some type of falsely hopeful nonsense about love would have been spilling from her mouth. Now, she wasn't so sure anymore. She hadn't stopped believing herself, but the shiny notion she had of love was definitely tarnished. She wanted to keep on believing, for Sakura's sake, that there was hope, but she didn't know, couldn't possibly know what would come after that night.

Ino sat there under the inundation of Sakura's tears in silence, stroking her friend's damp, braided hair and puffy cheeks. It was the only comfort she could give.

Thankfully, her pink-haired friend wasn't choosy in her times of need.

* * *

Kakashi wobbled on his feet as he stood up from the stool, sake sloshing over the sides of his glass. "You know, maybe I should be grateful to Sakura. If she hadn't dumped me, I wouldn't have had a berry good reason to get this wassted, waasted . . . Whatever."

He chuckled to his own joke, and Genma chuckled right along with him, even if he had stopped drinking himself about three shots ago. A few of the bar patrons around them stared, given how loud they had been talking, but neither of them paid too much mind to it.

As much as Genma wanted to be falling down drunk right along with him, someone had to be sober enough to get them back to their rooms in one piece. He felt kind of sorry for Kakashi for a brief moment. With how smashed he was, he would be feeling a pretty nasty hangover in the morning. Kakashi's headache would only he compounded with whatever successes Ino had in getting Sakura to go back to him, if any. He didn't doubt the kunoichi's abilities, but even if it did happen as planned, this pair still had plenty of deep, emotionally torrential issues to wade through.

For Pinkie's benefit, he probably should have cut his friend off from the bar a while ago, but he didn't. Hell, the memory of Mr. Perfect over there slurring his words every other sentence alone was worth it.

He grinned as took the sake shot from Kakashi's fingers. "You don't mean that. Alcohol isn't better than sex."

"But they both make you feel a lot better," Kakashi replied with a lop-sided grin.

Genma nodded in agreement before giving a weary exhale of breath. He stood up from the bar and fished out his wallet from his back pouch. A few bills floated down onto the surface from his fingers, enough to cover them both, a pretty significant amount from the number of empty crystal decanter they left behind. "Come on. You've had enough for one night."

For a moment, Kakashi raised one wavering pointed finger to protest before he stopped. "I'll pay you back."

"No, you won't. I doubt you'll even remember all of this in the morning."

"Maybe not, but I'll still try to."

Genma tried not to roll his brown eyes at the warm yet cheeky grin on Kakashi's face coupled with the happy eye crease he wore. "Yeah, yeah, fix your damned mask already."

The Copy nin's chuckle nearly came out as a drunk giggle. He awkwardly fiddled with the knit fabric, having a hard time pulling it up over his nose. Just as his face was once again concealed, both nin turned to find a squat, little man with a bent nose that looked awfully familiar, as well as busted, standing near. Those raccoon eyes of his did not help their recollection at all, nor did the neck brace. Kakashi squinted at the guy as four more figures shifted in the bar crowd around them, hanging to the periphery, not yet moving in for a confrontation. Genma cursed as he finally realized who the man was, "Shit . . ."

"Do I . . . know you?" Kakashi questioned with a puzzled scowl on his face.

"Considering you broke my nose, you better damned well know me," the man said with an angry glare, "Looks like your pink-haired bitch isn't here to save your ass this time."

The scowl on his face turned into a frown that tugged on the corners of his face. "Oh . . . you. Didn't I pay you to leave me alone?"

"You did, and then the price for your head went up exponentially once I realized who you are. When I heard you were down here without that whore of yours, I figured I'd hit the jackpot. Mist would pay a lot for that eye you got too," he explained before pointing at his wounded neck, "Besides, you owe me for the neck readjustment."

His frown deepened along with his stare, "Oh . . . I did do that . . . What happened to your nose?"

"That bitch Takara cracked my nose when she figured out that I talked."

Kakashi started to chuckle to himself. "What? That woman did that to you? What did she do, sucker punch you?" he laughed harder, "It looks all . . . bent, probably broke too much cartilage, huh? Wait, wait, I can fix it for you."

Grabbing the man by the nose suddenly, the Copy nin bent the appendage in the opposite direction. The man screamed in pain as the pop and crunch of cartilage made Genma's skin crawl. A moment later, Kakashi let the man's now bloody nose go and he bent over clutching his face while still shouting through the pain. Blood flowed onto the floor from his ruined nose. The entire bar fell silent. That damned happy eye crease stayed in place to on the silver-haired shinobi's face. "See! Now I fixed it!"

"We should probably just-" Genma tried to say while pushing Kakashi towards the door when they were interrupted.

"Fucking kill him already!"

"Crap," the brown-haired shinobi cursed as the four figures he had been watching emerged from the crowd, proving to be four very large men, "Double crap."

Apparently, their ring-leader had used Kakashi's bribe to hire bigger muscle. Genma ducked as a meaty fist swung at his face and whiffed. He scrambled out of the way as the punch meant for him followed through to his friend. This time, the fist landed in the Copy nin's hand, barely caught. The heavy momentum made Kakashi wobble though as he let go of the guy and side stepped drunkenly to keep from falling over. The big guy fell on his face with an impact that made the floor bounce.

He didn't get back up, not after a handy decanter of sake smashed on the back of his head.

Genma stared in stunned disbelief as Kakashi barreled into the second guy, knocking him back into a pair of tables and the people at them.

A shout went up from the crowd as some of the patrons panicked, some ducking out of the way of the fight, some running for the nearest door. Somehow, the Copy Nin managed to stay on his feet, in spite of the shaky steps he took. A third thug roared as he charged towards them, swinging a chair overhead. Kakashi side-stepped him easily, even though he looked like he was going to topple right over before he wobbled back in the other direction. The chair broke on the floor, but the legs still in his large hand looked like a pretty effective pair of clubs with sharp, pointy ends. Genma cursed as he sprinted across the barroom floor towards his friend, "Triple crap!"

The man swung at Kakashi, but his improvised weapon didn't strike as the shinobi leaned his body out of the way. Off balance, he tried to arch his body in the other direction with a big step, careening into the guy while shoving him back. The man tripped backwards over another fallen chair, weapons flying out of his flailing hands. The floor shook as he fell, cracking his head with an odd sounding crunch. Genma grabbed Kakashi by his coat collar just in time as he was about to fall over, and pulled him back to his feet. His friend chuckled drunkenly, giving him another one of those happy eye creases of his. "Tanks."

"Don't mention it," Genma said with a smirk before abruptly pulling Kakashi towards him. The fourth man's fist swished through the air where he had been standing. He haphazardly crashed into Genma from being so suddenly tugged, rebounding off of him and then sailing in the opposite direction towards the thug. Kakashi's shoulder connected with the man's very large gut, bowling them both over. The floor shook again as the Copy Nin landed on top of his fourth opponent and kept going. Rolling off of the man's body, his flailing feet connected with someone's jaw before he managed to get them back under him.

The floor shook once more as someone else fell, making Kakashi wobble slightly while he stood up. Genma, though, was still standing, staring at him in utter disbelief. "And I thought Gai's little pupil was a human wrecking ball with a few drinks in him . . ."

Three bodies of rather large and incapacitated thugs lay at their feet. He honestly didn't know how he did it while completely drunk off his ass. When he had taken a dive down with that last guy, he shouldn't have been able to see the guy he had shoved into the tables get up, let alone have enough left to kick him in the face while nearly prone. It was a move he almost expected out of Gai maybe, not a totally wasted Kakashi, and it was a lot cooler than it had any right to be. "I really need to brush up on my taijutsu . . ." he mused before looking around.

Half of the crowd in the bar was gone, and so was the little piss-ant that had started the fight in the first place. In that aspect, he wasn't too surprised that the coward had run. The people that remained stared at them both then started whispering to one another. He was sure some of their looks were in recognition, not just disbelief or even approval. "Quadruple crap," he cursed to himself before looking over at his friend, "You are unbelievable, you know that? I can't take you anywhere."

The eye crease stayed as he grinned broadly. "Good night."

Kakashi fell face first onto the bar's floor, passed out.

"Shit."

* * *

Snagging another dark chocolate truffle from the box, Sakura nibbled on it slowly in contemplation. Her tears had stopped a while ago, but that didn't stop it from hurting so much. She laid on the bed, staring up at the white ceiling. Ino laid next to her doing the same, but was in the opposite direction. Neither of them had said anything, but just sort of fell into place next to each other once her sniffled had died down. The blonde had pulled out more candy from that bag of hers, more truffles to go along with a box of chocolate-coated snack sticks. The package said marble-chocolate Pocky on it, but they were still sticks to her.

One of them hung from Ino's mouth, waving up and down like one of Genma's senbon as she munched on it.

"I don't know what to do, Pig," Sakura said after a long moment before popping the truffle into her mouth. The blonde's head poked up at moment to look at her before lying back down again. "Well, you're going back to him that much is certain."

"Can I? After everything I've done to him? I was so horrible to him. He'll never forgive me . . ."

"Yes, he will."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he loves you still, that's how I know," Ino said as she pulled the Pocky from her mouth, "And because you love him enough to know you did wrong. You're going to go back to him, you're going to apologize, and you're going to have glorious make-up sex."

Sakura tried to stifle her giggles at her friend's words, but couldn't completely. "Yeah, I wish. If only it were that simple."

"Really, it is that simple, Forehead. Stop trying to make this more difficult than it has to be. Once you tell him how you feel, it'll all be ok again."

"You sound so confident in that," Sakura pointed out, reaching over Ino for a piece of Pocky herself, "When did you become so confident in stuff like this?"

"Guess you can thank Genma for opening up my eyes too . . ." the blonde said as she munched on the stick, ". . . I'm going to tell Shikamaru how I feel when I get home."

"But isn't Temari supposed to be visiting this month."

"Yes, but I'm going to tell him anyway. I have to. She can fight with me over him afterwards if she wants, but then at least he'll know how I feel."

Sakura propped herself up on her elbows to look at Ino. Instead of the relieved expression she expected to see on her friend's face, a grim look of resolve was there, like either she knew she would be rejected anyway, or that she wasn't so sure in her love after all, but was going to go through with it anyway. The Ino she remembered would have downright panicked at the idea of telling Shikamaru anything about how she felt, relying rather on the supposed genius's uncanny perception to pick it up. Unfortunately, he never did, or if he did know, he never returned those feelings. After all these years, she should have been happy that she'd maybe be able to move on, but she wasn't.

Somehow, Sakura just knew that Genma had to be at the heart of this matter.

"Well, if you're sure that's what you want . . ." she started to say, as if she was about to question her, but then she finished, "Then I'm happy for you."

A false smile filtered over the pink-haired young woman's lips before faltering into a concerned look. "I just want you to be happy, Pig."

"I know you do, and no matter what, I'll be fine. I want you to be happy too, Forehead."

This time a genuine smile sprung up on Sakura's face. "You know, I guess no matter how much I may have complained, I really was happy for all those years working with Kakashi. I just didn't realize it at the time . . ."

With a sigh, she munched on the Pocky stick as she laid back down. Ino reached out and patted her on the leg. "You'll do fine. Stop worrying."

"I don't even know where Kakashi is at the moment . . ."

"You know him best. Where do you think he would be?"

". . . I don't think I want to know . . ."

* * *

The door to the dark hotel room opened, and weary, feminine figure holding a paper bag walked softly into the room. She closed the door behind her. A man seated before the large window glanced over at her, lowering the binoculars from his eyes. On the table beside him was an open can of beer that looked untouched given the amount of foam spilling over the top, and the speaker system they used. The small, steady red light on it flashed at her. "How did it go?" she asked him.

"To be expected. He got drunk, I helped. He passed out, so I had to lug him home and tuck him in for the night," Genma said, giving her his undivided attention before pausing a moment, ". . . I suspect Sakura is on her way to keep him warm for the night."

The blonde flashed a small smile at him before walking forward. She put her bag down on the table, then shucked off her heavy brown coat. Sitting down in a chair nearby, she slipped off her snow boots before silently walking over towards the bathroom. About to protest her lack of a conclusive answer, Genma stopped as she flashed a victory sign with her fingers before closing the door behind her. A relieved smile spread across his face as well. "Good, after all the property damage I had to pay for, this had better work," he muttered to himself as he looked back through the binoculars, "Not to mention I had to get him ready for bed too."

Genma shuddered then watched as there was movement on the hotel balcony in question. Slowly, he smiled to himself. "The lady returns to her knight, and all is well . . . almost."

* * *

A cold draft and a few snowflakes blew into the dark room. The change in temperature woke Kakashi up, and at that moment, he really didn't want to be awake. Cracking his good eye open, he saw a delicate, yet still hazy figure standing in the sliding doorway to the balcony. He must have been dreaming, but if he was dreaming, why was he cold? "Sakura?" he murmured as he started to get up.

The cold air stopped as the door slid closed with a metallic hiss. The vague sound of luggage being put on the floor reverberated in his ears. "Don't get up. It's just me."

He had to be hearing things from drinking too much because that sounded too much like Sakura. "Wha?"

"I'm moving back in," she said as she walked across the room towards the closet, "I'll explain in a little."

If this was a hallucination, it wasn't a bad one. "Oh, ok."

She knew she should have used the door. It was much more subtle than the window. Her gown was resting in the closet again, right next to the tuxedo he'd never wear again. The two pieces looked good together though, like they were meant to be there. Turning away, Sakura moved around the room methodically, avoiding eye contact with Kakashi as she went about unpacking her things. She shivered in coldness, silently cursing herself for not being smart and getting properly dressed before coming back. Going out through the snow in just some boots, a cloak, and her sleeping clothes was not a smart thing to do.

It wasn't just the cold making her shiver though. She could feel his eyes on her, burning a hole into her back as she fiddled with the drawers. Unable to ignore it, she looked over her shoulder at him. His mask and eye patch were gone, probably on the nightstand behind him. His normally wild hair looked almost deflated, hanging limply over his face and shading it. In spite of the shadows over his features, Kakashi looked at her lazily, almost seeming half asleep while propped up on his elbows. The white sheet hung around his waist, exposing his bare chest while clinging to the lower half of his body. The moonlight spilling in through the window cast a harsh blue light onto everything, but on him it seemed to add extra definition to already well-formed muscles.

Her knees almost buckled at the sight as she put a hand down on the dresser to steady herself. She suddenly looked away, finding the carpet much more interesting even if it really wasn't. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. She shouldn't have come, at least not until she had enough resolve to at least look at him without turning into a puddle of quivering goo. She came back to talk to him first at least before she threw herself at him. Needing something to occupy her thoughts with, she bent over to slip off her snow boots. Regardless, Sakura found herself peeking over at him, wondering if he was wearing his normal black pajama pants, or if maybe it was just those delightful dark grey boxer briefs of his or maybe nothing at all.

Oh, how she hoped that he was naked. That would just be perfect . . .

If this wasn't completely the wrong time to be thinking about sex. Balancing on one leg, she slipped the boot off and dropped it. "I know I said I was heading back to Konoha, but um . . . I sort of changed my mind," Sakura confessed as she stood up then bent down to slip off the other shoe, "I know you're tired and all, but . . . I really think we should talk . . ."

Dropping the boot with a thud, she looked up in time to see Kakashi suddenly flop backwards onto the bed. That wasn't good. Sakura's medical instinct kicked in as she quickly rushed across the room to the bed. Pulling back the sheet, she quickly discovered that he was wearing his normal black pajama bottoms after all. She climbed onto the large bed, crawling across to his side and bending over him. Worried, she turned his head towards her, about to pry his eyes back open when he belched. The distinct smell of sake wafted under her nose, coming from his breath. Groaning, she let go of him. "Oh, you didn't?"

But he must have because that lingering scent of alcohol wasn't going away. If he was passed out drunk, it must have been quite a lot of sake given how good he normally was at holding his own when they went out together. There wasn't anything to really worry about since he normally never brought his drink back up, but his hangover this time would probably be massive. Either way, Kakashi was out like a light. There would be no point in trying to talk to him at that moment at least.

Sighing, Sakura nudged the side of his nose with her knuckle to wake him up anyway. He snorted a moment, followed by a grunt and she giggled at his reaction. She nudged him again, this time prompting a very tired, "huh?"

"Roll over," she commanded, staring down at his face while still bent over his body.

"So'k," Kakashi mumbled as he did just that and rolled over.

There was one slight problem though with Sakura being in his way.

The kunoichi squeaked as she suddenly found herself being pushed down by a comparatively large and powerful male body. Before she could even think about getting out of the way, her entire right side was pinned to the bed. A thick leg thrust between hers also kept her from going anywhere. Her mouth moved up and down in shock, a half-formed protest on her lips until she heard him give a contented grunt then a relaxed exhale of breath. She blushed as she felt Kakashi's arm curled up at her side, half-hugging her body as he used her breasts as a pillow.

It was altogether too compromising of a position, but, for once, she didn't really mind it. As typical as this probably was for him, there were probably worse things he could be doing to her in his drunken stupor, like using her as a drool rag.

This, on the other hand, was kind of cute, even for Kakashi. Too bad he probably didn't even realize what he was doing. It was tempting to wake him up just to point out the position they were in, but he wouldn't have been coherent enough to appreciate it like she did. She certainly wasn't about to push him off of her either, but if her right arm went dead by the morning, she wouldn't have much of a choice. Reaching out tentatively, she pushed a bunch of silvery grey hair away from his unscarred eye then ran a finger down his face before letting her arm flop back. The blissful expression on his face was worth some numbness though as she watched him smile into her chest.

Despite the need she felt to talk to him, for one night, this felt like enough.

She smiled back and wiggled her body into a more comfortable position. At peace for what felt like the first time in a long time, Sakura fell into a restful sleep.

* * *

To be continued in Part 19 of Dirty Deeds, Do You Remember Love?


End file.
